Sins of a Galactic Empire Reborn
by zzzxxc1
Summary: When the unknown regions of space are revealed to the galaxy at large by a CIS warship, the UNSC becomes members of the galactic community, but its existence is soon threatened by the decline of the Republic. Adopted from SpaceCowboy2013.
1. Timeline and UNSC Facts

**Constructive criticism is welcome.**

 **SpaceCowboy2013 made the original storyline for this, and I'm planning on finishing this fight.**

 **Disney owns Star Wars, Microsoft owns Halo, that is all.**

 **Enjoy**

 **Timeline**

 **2050 -** As space travel becomes as common as air travel and the moon becomes covered in settlements, the four superpowers of the Earth, the United States, EU, People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation, along with the smaller space faring Nations of United Korea, Iran, Japan, India, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, and Egypt agree to form a single scientific body to explore and colonize the Solar system. These nations' space agencies are combined into one, headed under the United Nations and is coined the UNCA, the United Nations Colonial Administration.

 **2051 -** With the Earth's population reaching 12 billion and still rising, the UNCA begins to terraform Mars, Saturn's Moons, and the Jovian moons, including Europa. The first orbital elevator begins construction and is finished in five years by the UNCA in Hawaii allowing massive amounts of raw materials to be moved into space. Another four elevators begin construction shortly after the completion of the Hawaiian tether, one in Cuba, one in Peru, Malaysia, and Mombasa, Kenya.

 **2069 -** Mars is successfully terraformed into a lush green world with several large oceans and dozens of oceans, rivers, and lakes. The great colonization begins, with Millions of people settling the Martian surface and the first cities begin to appear. Extensive mining of the Asteroid belt begins.

 **2085 -** With Earth's population rapidly still rising and the production of food and resources struggling to catch up, the four major superpowers ramp up cooperation through the UN. Artificial gravity is perfected and the technology soon revolutionizes space travel, allowing long trips to be undertaken without bone and muscle deterioration.

 **2095 -** Hundreds of floating cities are built in Venus's upper atmosphere, allowing millions of colonists to settle there. The Population of Mars reaches 1 Billion and the total Human population throughout the Sol system reaches 20 billion. The UN and UNCA realize that the Human race must expand outside the Sol system, research into Faster Than Light travel begins.

 **2115 -** Conflict sparks throughout the Sol system when a neo-Fascist movement, the Freiden, attack a UN Colonial Advisors on Io, one of Jupiter's many moons. The Freiden also retaliate against their Communist counterpart, the Koslovics, after years of being targeted. This marks the beginning of the Interplanetary War. Fierce fighting in the rainforests of South America erupts between UN, Koslovic, and Freiden forces.

 **2116** **-** The UN and UNCA establish the UNSC, the United Nations Space Command, the military arm of the UN, to combat the separatist Freiden movement. The UNSC mobilizes a massive armada to combat the secessionist space forces. The Earth's orbit becomes militarized as defenses are constructed. Luna (Earth's Moon) and Venus are also fortified. Terrorist attacks supported by the Freiden and Koslovics all over the globe lead the rest of the nations of the world to found the United Earth Government, uniting all of the nations of the Earth for the first time in history.

 **2117 -** The first major Naval engagement between fleets in space takes place above Mars as the UNSC engages the Freiden and Koslovic Space Fleets in a heated three-way battle. Naval doctrine for the next several hundred years is defined as the UNSC defeats the Freiden and Koslovic forces in several battles that last for months with thousands of casualties on each side as the UNSC regains control over the atmosphere of Mars and its orbital facilities and space ports, as well as the planet's orbital elevators. However the Koslovic ground forces present on Mars had several ground to space laser batteries near Argyre Planitia, which were heavily defended, that kept the UNSC from landing a substantial amounts of troops. A UNSC Marine Lieutenant named Andrew White suggests that teams of elite Marines be dropped from warships waiting in orbit behind enemy lines via Human Entry Vehicles, or HEV pods for Short.

The ODSTs are born.

 **2118 -** During a lull in the war, the ODSTs are applied successfully on the battlefield and the Koslovic line soon crumbled. The last remnants of resistance on Earth are crushed by the might of the UNSC, Mars is liberated soon after and the UNSC fleet, reinforced two fold, liberates the Jovian moons and the moons of Saturn. The Interplanetary War comes to a close after the Callisto Treaty, in which Freiden and Koslovic commanders surrender their arms to the UNSC.

 **2119 -** The population of the Sol system booms after the Interplanetary War, which was much more devastating than the First and Second World War combined. This population boom, coupled with the famine caused by the Rainforest campaigns on Earth, caused the next decade to be very difficult to live in.

 **2132 -** Two brilliant scientists named Tobias Fleming Shaw and Wallace Fujikawa lead a team of engineers and theoretical physicists developed the Slipspace translight drive. The drive is completed not long after. The Shaw-Fujikawa Drive works by creating a wormhole between normal space and slipsace, also known as Shaw-Fujikawa space and slipstream space. The wormhole acts as a shortcut realm, allowing long distances to be covered in a reasonable amount of time. The UEG soon tests the drive on a UNSC Destroyer, the _Columbia._

The _Columbia_ makes a short jump across the Solar system, proving the drive works and that FTL has been achieved, but also that inter-system jumps are dangerous as the _Columbia_ is nearly trapped in the Ort Cloud.

 **2133 -** The first probes equipped with a Shaw-Fujikawa drive reach one of the nearest star systems to Earth with a known terrestrial planet, Epsilon Eridani. The probes upon return bring back images that shock Humanity, an Earth like planet.

 **2134 -** The first interstellar colonization ships leave Sol, lead by a titanic colony ship, the _Santa Maria_ , which is escorted by dozens of slipspace capable UNSC warships, and head for the Epsilon Eridani system with several hundred thousand colonists in tow. The trip takes three days but the fleet arrives and soon colonizes the planet, which is named

Reach.

 **2140 -** Colonization of the Alpha Centauri system takes place where the binary systems several rocky moons of a gas giant are terraformed allowing Colonists to settle , the system is named the Atlas moons with the largest of which is a planet called Pandora.

 **2150 -** All of the systems with planetary bodies within forty light-years of Earth are colonized, creating what would later be known as the Inner Colonies. Many systems like Epsilon Eridani have several colonies within them. The UNSC begins to have more control over the colonization efforts as more and more alien fossils are discovered on several planets, allowing many to agree that a large military is needed just in case the possible first contact goes wrong. Humanity soon controls over 100 planets and Reach becomes a military hub second only to Earth as the population of the planet exceeds a Billion. The total Human population reaches 40 Billion.

 **2200 -** Reach becomes the official headquarters of the UNSC, (though Earth still can act as headquarters). The first MAC (Mass Accelerator Cannon) gun is created, which accelerates a large slug using a linear system of magnetic fields coils down a long shaft, bringing the projectile to incredible speeds. Energy based weapons such as lasers become common and firearms begin to use either Metal Storm tech or Gauss tech to revolutionize weaponry. The UNCA is reorganized into the Colonial Administration Authority, or CAA, with a new military arm, the Colonial Military Administration, or CMA. The Office of Naval Intelligence, or ONI, is also founded.

 **2400 -** The UNSC and UEG have expanded to over 900 worlds. The total population exceeds 120 billion. ONI claims to have discovered the remains of an advanced alien spacecraft, which little do they know is in fact a Covenant explorer ship. Expansion halts as the UNSC and UEG realize that protecting the Outer Colonies is difficult. Defenses on all of the worlds are expanded and increased.

 **2450 -** The Insurrection begins due to unrest caused by the CAA's oversight of the Outer Colonies, leading to a gigantic build up in the UNSC as it finds itself surrounded by worlds in revolt.

 **2452 -** Project Orion is initiated. ORION's goal is to create genetically and cybernetically enhanced supersoldiers to combat the growing threat of the rebels. 10 test subjects are chosen and 8 survive the augmentation. These soldiers come to be known as SPARTANS.

 **2492 -** With the Insurrection still in full swing on the Outer Colonies, the next step of the ORION program goes forward, 100 children are "chosen" to receive extreme genetic augmentations. Due to improved augmentation procedures, all 100 survive, although some are left physically, but not mentally, inept.

The legendary Spartan IIs are born.

 **2525 -** The Outer Colony world of Harvest is where first contact is made with an advanced space faring civilization known as the Covenant. They prove to be hostile, and war begins as a UNSC battlegroup is engaged by a Covenant Super-Dreadnaught, leaving seven UNSC warships vaporized and the Covenant ship destroyed. The Human Covenant War begins as Covenant ships begin to invade and glass parts of the world. The Battle of Harvest leads to a ceasefire between the UNSC and Insurrectionists. The UNSC receives emergency powers from the UEG until the war is over.

 **2526 -** A large Armada of over 120 UNSC ships and thousands of Marines led by famed Admiral Preston Cole retake Harvest. The fleet engages a Covenant fleet of 65 ships and wins but at the price of 52 ships. The UNSC face Sangheili (Elites), Jiralhanae (Brutes), Mgalekgolo (Hunters), Yanme'e (Drones), Kig-Yar (Jackals), and Unggoy (Grunts) in combat as the UNSC ground forces, led by several Spartans, retake the planet. It is found that the Covenant's superior technology allow their ships to have a 1 to 2 ratio advantage over UNSC ships thanks to their energy shields and ship-borne plasma weapons. Three more battles will later take place elsewhere as both sides wrestle for control of the planet, the UNSC eventually abandoning the colony in 2528 to the Covenant, whom glass the entire surface.

 **2528 -** After the loss of Harvest four more star systems and 20 more colonies fall to the Covenant. The UNSC initiates the newly written Cole Protocol, which entails destroying all data that could fall into enemy hands and lead the Covenant to Human controlled planets. Humanity massively fortifies all its worlds and throws all of its resources into total war.

 **2530 -** At the battle of Sargasso, a young Admiral named Gregory White, a direct descendant of Andrew White, through use of what comes to be known as space guerilla tactics, defeats a larger Covenant force of 23 ships with a fleet of 12 ships by using a series of intricate traps, including nuclear mines, and using asteroids as cover to lure in parts of the Covenant fleet and defeat it in detail. The victory boosts sagging moral as Admiral White becomes a hero for humanity alongside of Admiral Cole, who two months later goes on an offensive with his fleet and retakes three star systems besieged by the Covenant. ONI manages to, thanks to a raid by Spartan II supersoldiers, capture a lightly damaged Covenant frigate and transport it to a remote outpost to be researched.

 **2531 -** After the First Battle of Arcadia, the UNSC _Spirit of Fire_ pursued the retreating Covenant forces to rescue the captured Dr. Ellen Anders. They reach Shield 0459, a Forerunner shield world containing unstoppable warships to be used to exterminate humanity. The crew of the _Spirit of Fire_ uses the ship's FTL drive to destroy the planet. During the battle, Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee is killed by Sergeant John Forge. After reaching a safe distance, the Slipspace drive is overloading remotely, destroying the Flood infection and the fleet of Forerunner ships. The _Spirit of Fire_ is set adrift through the vacuum of space.

 **2534** **-** The Covenant begins an offensive cutting deep into the Outer Colonies, the UNSC, outgunned, loses nearly 60 star systems and 100 worlds are turned to glass.

 **2537** **-** Seeing that the Covenant will likely reach the Inner Colonies within ten years and the fact that the UNSC is stretched too thin, Lord Hood, the UEG and UNSC HIGHCOM issue what comes to be known as the White Doctrine. The battle plan, drawn up by Admiral White (with help from Admiral Cole, Admiral Whitcomb and Lord Hood himself), calls for the evacuation of the remaining Outer Colonies and for the populations of the planets to be moved to the well-defended Inner Colonies. The plan calls for 75% of the remaining fleets in the Outer Colonies to be combined into two massive fleets under command of Admiral Cole and Admiral White while the remaining 25% of the fleet, under Admiral Whitcomb, assists in the evacuation effort and escorting the civilians to the safer Inner Colonies.

The two fleets would then engage in what could only be known as Interstellar Guerilla warfare as the two would lay intricate traps, using the abandoned worlds as what could only be called bait to lure the Covenant into traps and then pouncing with overwhelming numbers. The plan also calls for several more planets to act as Fortress Worlds which the fleets could use as midrange bases without traveling to the Inner Colonies and leading the Covenant there. The worlds that are chosen are the most populous of the Outer Colonies with the infrastructure necessary to do so, Arcadia and a world known as Midguard.

 **2540** **-** With the evacuation of the Outer Colonies complete, save for Midguard and Arcadia, the two fleets move to begin their work, destroying as many of the Covenant as possible while delaying the enemy's march towards the Inner Colonies and allowing the defenses to be further prepared and fleets upgraded and rebuilt. The two fleets begin to lay their traps and successfully begin to bleed the Covenant's forces by attacking supply worlds and luring battlefleets to abandoned worlds only to be destroyed by hidden mines and combined fleets in the hundreds of human ships. ONI research into slipspace jammer technology proves successful, allowing jammers to be placed around planets as to not allow anyone to perform intersystem jumps and forcing the Covenant to face defenses head on.

 **2543** **-** The Overlord defense system above Earth is completed, consisting of over 300 Orbital Defense Platforms and a fleet of nearly 2000 of the UNSC's most advanced ships just to defend Earth alone. The defenses of the rest of the Sol system consist of another 500 ships and another 30 Super MAC ODPs over Mars and 10 over Venus, with Each Colony of the Jovian and Saturn moons defended by 20 warships and various defense stations. The defenses of Reach are expanded as well to include 90 SMACs and a fleet of 650 Warships. All of the Inner Colonies begin to have around 10 SMACs to defend them and at all times at least a fleet of 50 ships.

 **2546** **-** Research into advanced technology captured by the Covenant proves to be fruitful as energy shields, the one thing that hampered the UNSC in space, are developed and installed on UNSC ships as fast as possible alongside many other advanced technologies. The Spartans become revealed to the public at large and are immediately seen as legendary heroes.

 **2547** **-** Arcadia falls to the Covenant, Admiral Cole and the remnants of his fleet escape to Midguard, the last line of defense until the Inner Colonies.

 **2550** **-** The fleets under Admiral White and Cole, having spent ten years successfully harassing the Covenant are pulled back to Midguard where they await the looming attack. The attack comes and the UNSC fleets, each once over 800 ships apiece, now have a combined strength of only 342 ships, only half of which have been refitted with shields , are forced to stand down over three times their number. Supported by Midguard's 23 Super MACs the fleets grind each other to scrap as half of Midguard is invaded by the Covenant ground forces while the UNSC fleet is reduced to 135 ships within three hours, the Covenant fleet reduced to around 300 ships and half of the ODPs taken out to enemy fire.

The battle turns into a stalemate as the valiant defenders hold their ground. Five battles take place over the next year as the UNSC is unable to send reinforcements due to the Covenant launching the awaited invasion of the Inner Colonies.

 **2551** **-** The UNSC manages to hold the Covenant at bay, losing only two star systems and ten worlds as the reinforced defenses and improved ships manage to drive the menace off in a series of hundreds of skirmishes. Any incursions on colonial soil are defeated by the combined UNSC ground forces.

 **2552** **-** A large Covenant Armada of over 800 ships, half of them being CCS battlecruisers, is detected heading towards Reach. The defenses are prepared as the colonists decide to all fight rather than flee. The UNSC fleet manages to hold their ground as the meat grinder rages for weeks as both sides send reinforcements almost continually.

The defenses manage to hold together and Reach is saved. Curiously, a Covenant assault carrier that was acting as the fleet's flagship goes on a random jump towards the middle of uncharted space away from the Inner Colonies after receiving strange signals from beneath the surface of Reach. A UNSC ship, _The Pillar of Autumn_ chases after the ship with one of the now 32 surviving Spartan II supersoldiers, John - 117.

 **2552 (Mid)** **-** The Events of Alpha Halo transpire.

Operation First Strike is carried out by 10 Spartan IIs led by the Master Chief. The strike force attacks and destroys a Covenant battle station and a fleet of 500 ships, set to be apart of the invasion force of Earth, with a NOVA bomb. The Spartans uncover the coordinates of four heavily populated Covenant worlds. This leads to what is known now as the Great Counter Offensive. An ONI force of prowlers delivers a deadly package to each of the planets, a NOVA bomb, killing billions of Sangheilli and other Covenant species and turning four worlds into asteroid fields. This was followed up by the first UNSC invasion of a Covenant World, though it was a small colony, the Covenant was about to get a taste of their own medicine in genocide.

 **2552 (Late) -** A small fleet of Covenant ships led by the High Prophet of Regret jumps into the Sol system. The First Battle of Earth takes place as the Covenant force is slaughtered by the Home Fleet and the Overlord SMACs with minimal losses. However one Assault carrier manages to slip through the defenses by using its fellow ships as a shield and lands forces in the tether city of New Mombasa. The Battle of New Mombasa takes place as Regret flees via an atmospheric jump, causing widespread damage to the city and nearly destroying the Orbital Elevator. the Master Chief on board the UNSC Frigate _In Amber Clad_ commanded by Miranda Keyes manages to give chase.

The events of Delta Halo transpire, as the Covenant civil war, otherwise known as the Great Schism, breaks out.

 **Early 2553** \- The Second Battle of Earth takes place when Covenant Loyalist forces launch an all out attack on the human homeworld. The battle rages as the UNSC holds the Covenant at bay. The defenses of the Sol System and Earth prove to be nearly unbreakable, though casualties are high on both sides. During this time the Covenant Separatists, led by the Sangheilli, form an Alliance with Humanity as battles rage across Covenant and former Covenant space. The Prophet of Truth, having evacuated the Covenant capitol city ship of High Charity via the Forerunner Dreadnaught, and armed with the code obtained from Delta Halo and Regret, heads to the Battle of Earth.

 **2553** **-** The Third Battle of Earth transpires as Truth and a fleet of thirty Covenant Capitol ships penetrate the defensive lines over Earth by using the Dreadnaught as a Shield to reach the surface of Africa. There the small fleet, constantly under attack from UNSC ground forces, vaporize Lake Victoria and excavate a gargantuan Forerunner facility that acts as a portal to the Ark, the control station to fire all of the Halos at once. Truth and his fleet slips through the portal as the Sangheilli and Humans soon give chase. Truth is defeated, as is the Gravemind and the Flood. When the Master Chief, Miranda Keyes, Sergeant Johnson, and Arbiter Thel Vadamee, activate the re built Alpha Halo and escape using the UNSC Frigate _Foreword Unto Dawn_ through the Portal. .

The Human Covenant War came to an end, leaving the UNSC as well as the Sangheilli and other Separatists victorious, though pockets of Loyalist resistance and fleets remain and Several Prophets did survive the destruction of High Charity. The Brute homeworld of Diasic and the Kig-Yar homeworld of Eayn however remain firmly in Covenant Loyalist control. The 28 year long war costs humanity 23 Billion civilian casualties, millions UNSCDF personnel , and all of the Outer Colonies not burned by the Covenant or ruined by Admiral White's Guerilla campaign save for Midguard, around 451 worlds in total.

 **2554** **-** The UEG signs a defensive pact with the Sangheilli and begin to rebuild the ruined Outer Colonies and resettle the unscathed colonies, with most of the Inner Colonies remaining intact, where 80 percent of the human population was either concentrated of fled to during the war allowing the re-colonization efforts to proceed swiftly. A cure for AI-rampancy is also found.

 **2556** **-** The Great Schism continues on as Sangheilli fleets engage the Loyalists in short border skirmishes. The Sangheilli, believed to have lost the technical expertise to create new ships and technology thanks to the Prophets, proves that the opposite is correct, and begin to design and manufacture their own weapons and equipment. Though the peace and alliance between the Sangheilli and the Humans is still set in stone, many Humans begin to keep an eye on their decade old enemy turned friend as a result of their military expansion.

 **2557 –** The UNSC stumble upon the Forerunner shield world of "Requiem." It is here that they awaken The Ur-Didact and his army of Prometheans, Forerunner warriors converted into digital intelligences. The UNSC Infinity and its Spartan 4s get their first real field test. UNSC forces battle against the Prometheans on Requiem for months, eventually forcing the Didact to withdraw far away from known space, and crushing Jul 'Mdama's Covenant Remnant forces.

A giant shockwave comes to the Humans and their allies. A Forerunner, The Librarian, revealed that the Humans are the rightful "Reclaimers" of the old Forerunner Empire and the Mantle of Responsibility. This revelation is accompanied by the location of key Forerunner planets, including their advanced shipyards via the Janus key. The advanced shipyards would greatly enhance the UNSC's ability to rearm themselves. However, trying to gain access to Forerunner designs have resulted in failure, time and time again, but that doesn't stop the UNSC from attempting to reverse engineer Forerunner technology.

 **2558** **-** The construction of the GUARDIAN Early Warning Sensor Net, first begun in 2555, is completed. This wall of sensors placed on the edge of UNSC space allow humanity to have early warning of any activity or ship heading or near the "border" of Human space.

 **2560** **-** The UNSC is quickly recovering from the war, when GUARDIAN sensor 231 detects an anomaly on the very edge of its range. Upon closer review it is discovered that the signature is that of a ship, albeit of an unknown design. An ONI prowler is sent to investigate. When the Prowler _Night Owl_ arrives at the location, it is found to be a ruined hulk of a derelict warship. Upon further investigation it is found to be a ship that is run mostly by robots, most of them armed. However, the few beings that appear to be the controllers of the ship are of a species unknown to the UNSC or Covenant Separatists. As the AI's of ONI decrypt the computer banks of the ship, the UNSC learns that the galaxy is much larger than they believed. The ship belongs to a faction named the Confederacy of Independent Systems involved in a war with a large interstellar power, calling itself the Republic. What is even more shocking is the fact that the rest of the galaxy seems to be heavily populated with other humans as well.

The UNSC sends out teams to explore the galaxy and gather information. They discover the history of the Galaxy, the Jedi, the Republic, and the war, called the Clone War, which appears to have broken out only months ago. The UNSC inexplicably learns that though it is small, its comparatively highly developed colonies, along with a large, well trained, equipped and experienced military, only coupled with the large defenses as a result of the Covenant War, would be a major power in the Galaxy. However, as the information begins to spread to the public, it is decided that the UEG would stay out of galactic affairs until the current war is over. The existence of the UNSC and UEG is revealed when a Republic cruiser with a Jedi Knight, named Anakin Skywalker, on board jumps into one of the systems where a Guardian station is, apparently in search of the very ship the UNSC found.

The UEG is forced to initiate contact. UEG ambassadors make formal contact with the Republic, though exact locations of UEG planets are withheld and the UEG agrees to limited trade.

The Republic (after seeing that the UEG is a well-organized power and witnessing the UNSC fleet that made contact) immediately try to coerce the UNSC into joining them in their war against the CIS, which to the surprise of the Chancellor and the Jedi, they adamantly refuse to get involved. The presence of a galactic power in the Unknown Regions, (the spiral arms of the Milky Way) stirs up great interest in the galaxy. Trinkets of Terran technology begin to appear on worlds, and as they are analyzed by both the Republic and CIS. Their discoveries lead the intelligence communities of both factions to presume that the UNSC would be a major military power, though the exact power and size is completely unknown, this leads to nothing more than both sides trying even harder to jockey the UNSC into joining their cause.

ONI Operatives, under orders to discover the truth behind the Clone Wars, which many Terrans found despicable, because the Republic's use of Clones is seen as nothing more than slavery, learn that the entire Clone wars were nothing more than a very complex conspiracy supported by ex-Jedi and what is believed to be high ranking members of the Republic government, though their identities are unknown. The UEG immediately isolates itself from the Republic. As the Clone War rages on, the CIS begins to slowly deteriorate as many elements of the CIS call to the UEG for aid. The UNSC begins to provide medical aid to the CIS. This leads to create great tension with the Republic as the UN begins to secretly provide intelligence to the beleaguered CIS remnants and prepares for war, though it has been for the past year.

 **2560 (Late)** **-** The UEG/Republic War begins when a Venator class star destroyer fires on a UNSC Frigate and a UNSC Aid Ship it claims to be providing support to CIS forces on Kashyyyk, destroying the Aid ship and damaging the UNSC Frigate, though the UNSC ship manages to destroy the bridge of the Venator.

 **2561 (Early)** **-** Present

 **UNSC Equipment**

 **MA6D Assault Rifle** **-** First adapted in 2431 this rifle shares many looks with the older and conventional rifle the MA5 series as well as being around the same size. However the overall appearance is where the similarities end. The weapon has a unique three barrel layout where the barrels are arranged in a triangle inside the barrel shroud as the weapon uses a firing system known as Metal storm technology to use an electrical charge to ignite the propellant of a 7.62mm tungsten round which, along with each bullet's propellant, is stacked end to end with about 12 rounds in each barrel (36 rounds total). The initial problems with MS tech were overcome as the first round has a 10 inch barrel and due to a radical advance in gunpowder which allows for much higher velocities with smaller quantities .The accuracy and muzzle velocity is dramatic, with an accurate range of 700 yards and a muzzle velocity of 1840 m/s (more than double the MA5 series, at hypersonic velocity), and accuracy only improves the more rounds are spent as the barrel length each new round in each barrel has to travel increases. Though the Metal Storm firing system allowed for incredible rates of fire, the firing rate is toned down to that of 750 rounds a minute. All rifles come standard with an under slung 40mm grenade launcher and the D model has, as well as iron sights a holographic red dot sight atop the ammo counter and the miniaturized targeting computer for users lacking a targeting interface. This weapon is known to be able to drain or penetrate standard Sangheilli Energy shields in 4 to 6 hits.

 **BRM-99 Stanchion II Gauss Rifle** **-** The original M99 Stanchion Gauss rifle was a sniper rifle that served throughout the 2400's and into the Covenant War. However the UNSC realized that it needed a weapon halfway between the range of a sniper rifle and the MA6 with power also halfway between the two. Gauss technology was in use long before 2538 when this weapon was introduced, but the Stanchion II revolutionized weaponry. Helped along with technology reverse engineered from captured Covenant weapons the BRM is a fully contained Coil Rifle in the size of a Battle Rifle, albeit a bit bulkier. Though it sacrifices fire rate for power, the weapon's 8mm tungsten slugs can take out almost anything on the battlefield in as little as one hit with its muzzle velocity of 3,600 m/s and the magazine can hold up to 70 slugs. The weapon looks similar to the long retired BR-55 battle rifle, but with the smooth features of a MA6 and DMR thrown in. The battery of the weapon is contained in a small magazine like pack attached to the weapon in front of the trigger guard which gives enough power for 1000 fully charged shots, after which the battery is simply ejected like a mag and replaced with a new battery. The weapon comes with a 2x and a 4x magnification scope with full thermal and night vision capabilities.

 **AA-22 Automatic Shotgun -** As the name suggests, this weapon is the distant offspring of the vaunted AA-12 Automatic Shotgun. This weapon fires 10 12 Gauge rounds from a standard magazine or 30 from a drum magazine at a rate of 300 rounds a minute.

 **MGS-953 Squad Light Machine Gun (SAW) -** A typical Squad of 5-10 men carries two, and the firepower this gives them makes Hunters second guess charging into battle. This weapon is a far more streamlined and futuristic weapon than the original SAW hundreds of years ago, but it serves the same purpose. With an ammo drum full of 100 7.62 mm rounds, this weapon spits them out at a rate of 1000 rounds a minute at an accurate range of 350 yards and at 1,000 meters a second. This weapon's purpose is to lay suppressive fire very fast.

 **M-51 Armor** **-** The latest in personal UNSC armor technology introduced in 2430, the M-51 can trace its roots to the Future Force Warrior systems and Mechanical exoskeletons employed by the United States in the 21st century.

Using reactive carbon nano tubes built into the arms, back and leg pieces of the BDU the M-51 suit allows for the wearer to carry far more weight into combat, run at burst of up to 20 mph in full Battle Gear, and lift three times their weight. The armored plates, made up of carbon ceramics and composite titanium A plates, are highly resistant to small arms fire up to 12.7mm and can withstand up to five direct hits from Covenant Plasma rifle blasts. Troops also carry an attachable re breather and mask for limited EVA operations or in case of emergency decompression on a ship.

The M-51 exo-suit carries an onboard shield generator which is capable of taking dozens of hits from energy weapons. ODSTs use an M-51 variant, the M-62, which is more durable, and allows the user to fall from high orbit and survive, but with the likely chance of ending up with severe injuries.

 **Miscellaneous –** The UNSC has many old weapon systems still in service, such as the M6 Magnum series, the M7 SMG, and the M90 shotgun among others.

 **UNSC Vehicles**

 **M20 Combat Vehicle 'Warthog' -** Introduced in 2500, the upgrade of the older M12 Warthog, the M20 has a more powerful engine, stronger armor, and a rear-mounted 20mm auto cannon, as well as . It has multiple variants, such as a troop transport, a command center, and an ambulance, but mainly functions as a fast reconnaissance vehicle. It is equipped with a small shield generator that can protect from threats long enough for the M20 to withdraw.

 **M38 APC 'Panda' -** Rolled off the assembly line in 2530, The 8-wheeled M38 armor personnel carrier ferries troops to and from the battlefield. It can protect against all small arms fire and can take multiple hits from directed energy weapons. It has a M46 Vulcan LAAG mounted its roof. It has proved to be a versatile weapons platform, being used for multiple roles, such as anti-air, logistics, and a mortar carrier. It is equipped with composite armor plating and a shield generator that enhances its capacity in dealing with mines, shrapnel, etc. An active defense system also defeats mortar rounds, rockets, and even tank shells.

 **M43 IFV 'Boar' -** Introduced alongside the Grizzly II, the tracked M43 IFV keeps troops protected and carries them to the frontline, and supports the infantry in combat. It was designed to keep up with the M1000 Grizzly II MBT, which it is easily capable of. It is armed with a 30mm auto cannon, a 40mm grenade launcher, and an ATGM launcher. It is equipped with a shield generator that aids in protecting against all battlefield threats alongside its composite plating. It is fitted with the same ADS as the M38.

 **M1000 MBT 'Grizzly'** **-** Based off the venerable Scorpion, the original Grizzly Variant had two 90mm high velocity cannons and a flamethrower with a more powerful engine and thicker armor. The Grizzly II was introduced in 2531 and became the most powerful tank ever created by modern Humanity. The Grizzly is armed with a 125 mm Gauss cannon, two 50 cal machine guns, a flame thrower and two 25mm light anti-air guns, or LAAGs, mounted on the side of the turret, which like its predecessors is towards the rear of the tank more and is slightly flatter as well and is lower towards the main hull. The armor is far thicker, and further increased by its angled plating, and the titanium-ferrite armor and composite Chobham plates can withstand numerous hits from Hunter assault cannons and several direct hits from a Wraith, as well as dozens of hits from conventional cannon shells. Another feature is that the armor is smoother, with curves in certain areas. It is additionally fitted with the same ADS as the M38. The far sleeker tank uses a fusion reactor to power the beast to speeds up to 60 mph.

 **Miscellaneous –** Miscellaneous UNSC vehicles include the Mongoose, and the dozen or so types of trucks used for transportation and logistics.

 **UNSC Aircraft**

 **FS-837 Starfighter 'Falken'** **-** Replacing the venerable Sabre fighter, which was adapted in 2531, the Falken is a giant leap forward in fighter technology. Under half the size of the Longsword, the Falken is faster and far more maneuverable. Designed with a long dagger nose and a fully enclosed cockpit that uses view screens, called a COFFIN system, to give the single pilot a 360 degree view, the fighter had a deadly swept forward wing design with two large omni directional thrust capable engines that allow the Falken to flip over and spin on its axis for better angles of attack during dogfights, a deadly advantage. Also having two inward swept tailfins and two canards in front of the wing, the Falken is just as deadly and capable in a dogfight in atmosphere as in space. It is armed with two 50 mm cannons, as well as a pulse laser and up to 20 missiles for dogfights as well as hardpoints for anti-ship missiles and bombs.

 **Miscellaneous –** The UNSC operates multiple miscellaneous aircraft, such as the old AV-14 Hornet, to the newer AV-49 Wasp. 

**UNSC Starships**

 **Andraste Class Frigate -** The Andraste Class is the result of the gradual evolution of UNSC warships through the Covenant War. Fazed into service alongside older frigate classes as early as 2348 and gradually replacing them, the Andraste incorporates all of the lessons learned from engaging the Covenant and all the technology the UNSC could pack into it. Though having the overall classic look and profile of UNSC Frigates, the Andraste class looks less skeletal, looking a little more bulky due to an extra foot of armor and more weapons.

Length- 489 meters

Hull- 3 feet of Titanium A battleplate

Defenses - Mk III Shield Generator, ECM and ECCM

Armament

\- 1 MAC Gun (600 ton shell at 30,000 km a second)

\- 2 Single Particle Cannon mounts on the rear of both of fighter bay sponsons

\- 40 Archer Missile Pods (30 missiles per pod)

\- 4 Shiva Nuclear Missiles

\- 20 Fury Nuclear Missiles for Plasma Interception

\- 12 50mm Helical Railgun CIWS

\- 4 Kilowatt level anti-ship pulse lasers

\- 5 twin 100 mm Defensive railguns

\- 10 Missile Defense Lasers

Complement

\- 8 Falken Space Superiority Fighters

\- 1 Company of Marines

 **Heart of Midlothian Class Heavy Destroyer -** Developed from experiences during the Covenant war, this class of destroyer came to represent the new standard for UNSC destroyers. These ships prove a match for larger ships with their heavy armament and thick armor.

Length - 535 Meters

Hull - 2 meters of Titanium A battleplate

Defenses - Mk III Shield Generator, ECM and ECCM

Armament

-2 Mac Guns

\- Three Particle Cannons

\- 38 Oversized Archer Missile Pods

\- Six Anti-Ship Kilowatt level lasers

\- 6 Shiva Nuclear Missiles

\- 18 50mm Helical Railgun CIWS

\- 6 Defensive 100 mm Railgun Mounts

\- 10 Fury Tactical Nuclear Missiles for Plasma Torpedo Interception

Complement

\- 8 Falken Space Superiority Fighters

\- 1 Company of Marines

 **Marathon Class Cruiser (Refit) -** These Cruisers held the line against the Covenants superior firepower successfully in the early years of the Covenant War. A force to be reckoned with before their refits with new technology like shields, they only became even more powerful.

Length - 1195 Meters

Hull - 2.1 meters of Titanium A/ Vandanium Battleplate

Defenses - Mk III Shield Generator, ECM, ECCM

Armament

\- 2 Heavy MAC guns (900 ton slugs at 1/10th the speed of light, 30,000km/sec)

\- 8 Dual Partical Cannons

\- 70 Archer Missile Pods (30 per pod)

\- 17 Anti-ship kilowatt lasers

\- 10 Shiva Nuclear Missiles

\- 60 50mm CIWS

\- Missile Defense Lasers

\- 20 Dual Defensive 310mm Railguns

Complement

\- 4 Longsword Heavy Fighters

\- 30 Falken Space Superiority Fighters

\- 10 Pelicans

\- 1 Battalion of Marines

 **Warlock Class Battle Cruiser** **-** By 2535 it had become apparent that although the Marathon class cruisers that preceded it were no doubt very powerful, they just were not powerful enough. Though the UNSC could build them at the various shipyards at Reach, Earth, Mars and about a dozen other Inner colony shipyards at a pace of about 80 a year, they needed a ship that was more powerful and could easily be adapted to take on the new technologies the UNSC was developing.

As such the Warlock was born.

At a length of 1502 meters and armed with the most advanced weapons the UNSC has at its disposal, these ships are a force to be reckoned with.

Length – 1502 meters

Defenses - 2.3 Meters of Titanium A / Vanadium Composite Battleplate, Mk III Shield Generator, ECM, ECCM

Armament

\- 2 Heavy MAC Guns

\- 1 standard MAC

\- 12 Dual Partical Cannon mounts

\- 30 anti-ship pulse lasers,

\- 100 Archer Missile Pods (30 apiece)

\- 10 Shiva Nuclear Missiles

\- Various other Nuclear armaments, usually tactical mines or Smaller Plasma intercepting missiles

\- 40 100 mm Railguns for close combat

\- 100 strategically placed anti-missile pulse lasers

\- 80 50mm CIWS

Complement

\- 60 Falken starfighters

\- 10 Longsword bombers

\- 40 Pelicans.

\- 2 Battalions of Marines

 **Concordia Class Heavy Carrier -**

Designed as a replacement for both the Firefly class carriers and the remaining Trafalgar class Supercarriers, the Concordia's heavy anti-ship armament and armor (for a carrier) allows the ship to take on Covenant capitol ships on its own right, allowing its fighters and bombers to focus on their mission rather than having to defend the carrier.

Length - 3124 meters

Defenses - 1.2 Meters of Titanium A/ Vanadium Composite Battle Plate, Mk III Shield Generator, ECM, ECCM

Armament

\- 1 Mark II Energy Projector

\- 1 Heavy MAC gun

\- 6 Particle Cannons, (2 per turret)

\- 300 Archer Pods (30 missiles per pod)

\- 10 Shiva Nuclear Missiles

\- 40 100 mm Railguns for close combat

\- 30 Flak Cannons

\- Anti-Missile Pulse Lasers

\- 210 50mm CIWS

Complement

250 Falken starfighters

120 Longsword Bombers

Up to a Division of Marines and their equipment

Able to hold two Corvettes internally or 10 extra Landing Craft for Marine Forces

 **Medusa Class Battleship -**

The design for these powerful ships were originally produced a year before the start of the Covenant war. These ships until the UNSC managed to replicate Covenant shield tech were the only ships that were able to take on the largest Covenant warships. Numbering only around 50, the powerful ships are the pride of the UNSC fleet, a fact that they earned through battle during the war.

Defenses - Up to 3 Meters of Titanium A / Vanadium Composite Battle plate, Mk IV Shield Generator with Smaller Back Up, ECM, ECCM

Length - 2,900 Meters

Armament

\- 2 Mk II Energy Projectors In turrets on lateral surface

\- 4 Heavy MAC guns

\- 34 Dual Particle cannons

\- 600 Archer Missile Pods (30 Missiles per pod)

\- 30 Shiva Nuclear Missiles

\- 50 Flak Cannons

\- 115 100 mm Railguns for Close Combat

\- Anti-Missile Pulse Laser Defense Net

\- 180 50mm CIWS

Complement

\- 100 Falken starfighters

\- 20 Longsword Bombers

\- 1 Brigade of Marines

 **UNSC FACTS**

UNSC Population- 120 Billion, rising due to a baby boom

UNSC Controlled Worlds - 950

Inner Colonies - 180 colonies (but contains 70 percent of population). Reach has a population of 7 billion and Earth has a population of 25 Billion.

UNSC Military Manpower - 5 Billion Active Duty Personnel

UNSC Reserve Forces in Various Colonial Defense Forces - 1.2 Billion

Conscription Ready - 16 Billion

 **UNSC Fleet Strength**

~50,885 Combat Vessels (not including ONI Prowlers or Rumored Stealth Ships)

\- 3,000 Support Ships (not including fleet tenders)

\- 1,500 Cradle Class Mobile Repair and Refit Platforms

\- 500 Mobile Construction Yards

\- 500 Planetary Assault Platforms (Modified Repair and Refit Platforms)

\- 1,000 Various Hospital Ships

\- 300 Phoenix Class Colony Ship Refitted for Planetary Assault roles

\- 7,000 Gladius Class Corvettes

\- 6,000 Mako Class Corvettes (Being superseded by the Gladius class and future designs)

\- 5,000 Andraste Class Frigates

\- 5,000 Halberd Class Destroyers

\- 5,000 Heart of Midlothian Class Heavy Destroyers (700 more under construction) - New fleet doctrine calls for a step away from the lighter Frigates to purpose built Destroyers

\- 4,000 Paris Class Heavy Frigates

\- 4,000 Autumn Class Heavy Cruisers (All older Halycon Class Cruisers have been refit and upgraded to the specifications of this Class)

\- 3,000 Stalwart Class Light Frigates

\- 3,000 Anlace Class Frigates (Able to be held inside Infinity Class Supercarriers)

\- 3,000 Strident Class Frigates (Able to be held inside Infinity Class Supercarriers)

\- 2,640 Marathon Class Cruisers

\- 2,000 Charon Class Light Frigates

\- 1,100 Warlock Class Battlecruisers

\- 1,000 Valiant Class Super Heavy Cruisers

\- 1,000 Hillsborough Class Destroyers

\- 500 Vindication Class Light Battleships

\- 300 Gorgon Class Heavy Destroyers

\- 200 Concordia Class Heavy Carriers

\- 75 Medusa Class Battleships

\- 40 Infinity Class Supercarriers

\- 30 Poseidon Class Light carriers

\- 20 Epoch Class Heavy Carriers

\- 20 Orion Class Assault Carriers

\- 10 Punic Class Supercarriers (8 built, three lost in Covenant War, One replacement under construction with another planned)


	2. Cry Havoc

**AN: Happy to see the Clone Wars back. If there was a ship, or other piece of UNSC equipment that exists in the Halo universe, that wasn't listed in the Codex (1** **st** **chapter), chances are, the UNSC still has it in service, but as a reserve, mothballed, etc. When SpaceCowby2013 made this story, Halo 4 was not even released. I will eventually RetCon the fleet numbers and all that. I think the way SpaceCowboy had the UNSC technology progress is more realistic than what we have in the lore, so at least that is staying.**

\- _The UEG is a federal democracy that is believed to control around 1000 colonies, which vary in population (from a few thousand to seven billion, all of which is centered on their Homeworld of Earth). The Terrans insist that Earth is the homeworld of humanity, and that a race called the Forerunners transplanted Humanity throughout the galaxy. This is debated. The UNSC (The Military arm of the UEG) was involved in a massive 28 year long war that makes the current conflict pale in comparison, with an alliance of alien races called the Covenant. The exact cause and facts behind it, as well as information on the races of the Covenant, is very limited. What is the cause of concern is though the Terran territory is small, their worlds, the ones we know of, are highly industrialized, heavily defended, and their Naval and ground forces are all well-equipped and well trained, and VERY experienced. UNSC equipment is both very advanced, powerful, and strangely antiquated at the same time._

 _SEE ATTATCHMENT*_

 _\- Republic Navy Intelligence Memo-_

 _*- We know the Terrans rely heavily on projectile weaponry; however they are not just some antique slug throwers on a backwater planet, like those that we have grown accustomed to. The Terrans have developed their projectile weaponry to a point to where it either equals, or in some cases exceeds blaster weaponry. Our forces, and for that matter almost any forces in the galaxy, have little experience fighting trained forces armed with such weaponry. Our analysts have played back footage of the Human/Covenant war, which the Terrans themselves have provided for us, and even their older models of rifles seem to have the ability to leave any clone trooper in the bacta tank for weeks._

 _What is more discouraging is the fact that the armor that their soldiers, at least their Marines, wear, seem to be a highly advanced power armor suit that uses some sort of fibers that amplify the wearers movements. The next fact, and most disconcerting, is that they are equipped with personal energy shields, which can take multiple hits to bring down from our standard blasters. One negative aspect of the Clone Wars for our troopers and Jedi generals is that the UNSC does not fight on the ground the same way as the armies of the CIS do._

 _The UNSC Troopers are trained, like our own, to fight using their heads and to not needlessly charge headlong at the enemy unless necessary. Though our troopers are capable of countering this style of warfare, the problem arises that the CIS Droid armies have always simply charged suicidally towards the most hevily defended portions of our frontlines. The months of facing these tactics have made our troopers, no matter how well trained they are, to come to expect this style of warfare. As a result, for a short time our troopers will have habits developed that will put them at a disadvantage._

 _(Note: we have reason to believe that UNSC firearms will catch the Jedi completely off guard, you cannot deflect bullets, especially as those of the UNSC travel near, or at hypersonic speeds)_

 _UNSC Naval strength is the most concerning part however. We witnessed this the hard way during the Kashyyyk incident, that the weaponry that UNSC Vessels use are powerful, and we believe that they have engagement ranges that supersede ours. Their Mass Drivers, which are more complex than they seem, are the single biggest threat. The RNS Unstoppable had its bridge and tower section blown off from a single round from the Terran's MAC gun, as they refer to it as, after another shot and dozens of missile hits brought the shields down. We have analyzed the debris, and have found evidence of nuclear warheads inside of their standard missiles. We have not seen nuclear weapons used on the battlefield since the Mandalorian wars millennia before us, and even then, they weren't as effective as the Terrans' rendition._

 _We need to end this war quickly. Our strength lies in our numbers._

 _\- Republic Intelligence Report to the Senate and Jedi Counsel-_

 _ **Coruscant**_

 _ **Office of the Chancellor**_

 _ **Republic Executive Building**_

Sideous gazed out of his office window, met with the daily lives of the denizens of Coruscant's unending duracrete jungles, with a shadow cast over him by the rising Coruscanti star.

They went about their lives, blissfully ignorant to what was truly happening behind the scenes of the Galactic Theater.

The dark lord of the Sith pitied them for not being able to realize the forces beyond their control, manipulating them, and controlling them into doing whatever they willed.

Whatever he willed.

Forces that were beyond their control.

'Oh, what a gross understatement,' Sideous chuckled to himself in his office.

He closed his eyes, still smirking, and immediately began to tap into the thoughts of the citizens going about their business and routine that has been with them since they were younglings being carried in their mothers' arms.

He smiled, knowing that their incapable minds would easily bend under his prowess in the Dark Side of the Force, if he tried it.

However he had bigger scalefish to fry.

He would have never had thought that his plans, his delicately laid out plans, which had been going so unbelievably well up until this point, could be so derailed by a single discovery. He was so close to bringing in the Empire, which would've lasted a thousand years.

The existence of an entire community of humans, in the unknown regions had come as a shock to him as much as any other normal person.

"But still…" he murmured.

The shocking discovery led to another. Although the Terrans had a presence in the force, it was very faint. Only the most adept force users could sense it. There was nearly nothing in the force, almost nothing at all. A force user couldn't even read their minds; it was like hearing nothing but static.

How in the force that was possible was beyond him.

Master Yoda and the Jedi Council had about as much of a clue as he.

When their delegation had come to Coruscant, to much fanfare, the entire Galaxy had watched in wonder as they presented their history, and what they believed to be the history of the galaxy.

It had actually answered some questions, but raised more, many more.

Could an ancient race have really seeded the entire galaxy with humanity and other races for that matter? It wasn't that farfetched, and they had evidence to back it up. It stirred controversy throughout the academic institutions of the galaxy nonetheless, Republic and Confederate alike.

They had been surprised to say the least when they learned that the UN had only been traveling the stars for 500 years or so, for a race to develop so quickly was rare, though the reasoning for it that the Terrans had was sound. To be split into so many competing nations, states, and ethnicities would cause rapid development.

Then they were told about, briefly, the Human Covenant War.

To say that he himself was disgusted and shocked would have been an understatement. It surprised him. Few things fazed Sideous.

If what they had said was true, then the Clone War is mere child's play to the likes of them. It was not a struggle for control of the Galaxy like the Clone War. It was a struggle for survival. The humans, backed into the corner, fought with savagery matched by no race of the Republic in previous Galactic history.

There had been several aliens with them, called Sangheilli, which had been a former member of the Covenant, before learning the apparent truth behind the war and seceding from the Covenant, allying with the UNSC.

The UEG and the Sangheilli wanted to become a part of the Galactic community and open trade with all of the worlds, or so it seemed.

In reality, it was the truth that they wanted nothing more than to be left alone in their isolation, as evident, as they adamantly were against becoming involved in the war, the Sangheilli far more than their Terrran counterparts.

Another thing that had caught them by surprise was how the UN openly criticized the use of Clones by the GAR.

The words despicable, disgusting, cowardly, and even pathetic were commonly thrown around when Terrans and Sangheilli alike discussed the Clone War. The UEG ambassador, in one of the in frequent interviews that had been given, had openly declared the Clones to be a crime against humanity. That was when it all went sour. It also started up the debate again with Sentient Being Rights groups rallying behind the UN's declaration. They had gotten some support at the beginning of the War, but now their ranks had been filled to the brim. The Republic Propaganda Administration shot themselves in the foot with their old poster, which featured Clone forces posed heroically, and the caption, "Support the Boys in White." This acted as a grim reminder that the backbone of the Republic military was all actually around the age of 10, thanks to their accelerated aging.

It was well known that the UEG and their allies were playing both sides in an attempt to be neutral; however, when they began to give direct medical aid to the CIS, the Senate went into an uproar. It had been hard for Chancellor Palpatine to keep order during the announcement.

It only got worse from there when the Republic Center for Military Operationshad its servers hacked by a very advanced and malicious hardware that they claimed to be an Artificial Intelligence, and had extracted many pieces of incriminating evidence about the war and the Kaminoans.

Only the UNSC had technology that could perform such a Herculean feat.

That was just the tip of the iceberg. The enmity between the Terrans and the Republic all culminated in what is now dubbed as the "Kashyyyk incident," when the crew of the Venator Class Star Destroyer _Unstoppable_ opened fire on UNSC ships in orbit of the ongoing battle of Kashyyyk after the UNSC ships had failed to turn around and leave the system, as prescribed by the _Unstoppable_ 's captain.

In the end the Star Destroyer _Unstoppable_ was left repairable and had to be scrapped. A large UNSC freighter was decimated and a UNSC Frigate was left heavily damaged.

But that was just in space.

Before jumping away using their still mysterious Slipspace drive, the UNSC ship fired a thermonuclear device into the upper atmosphere above the main continental mass where fiercest fighting was taking place, and sent an encrypted signal to the CIS forces.

The CIS forces, droids, war machines, everything immediately shut down, leaving the Republic Soldiers confused.

However the next thing that happened left the Republic defenseless.

The Thermonuclear device exploded high in the upper atmosphere, sending out a titanic wave of EMP down to the surface.

The entire GAR force deployed in the theatre effectively shut down. Communications were fried. LAATs spiraled out of the sky. Walkers stood still or toppled over. HUDs fizzled out. Life support for the wounded shut down, leaving them to die. And even heavy weapons and some blasters jammed or misfired.

Then the CIS droids powered back on again, marching through what little resistance was still holding on, and the GAR was crushed. It turned the battle into a massacre.

The CIS withdrew from the planet, but not before rendering around 1/8th of the planet uninhabitable, burning entire continents to the ground, and killing off hundreds of thousands of Wookiees or capturing them to be put to work building the next generation of droid foundries.

That had been only three months ago, though the CIS was now only a shadow of its former self. Sideous received one of the biggest surprises of his life. He received a message from Count Dooku. Sideous donned his hooded cloak and closed the shutters on the window with a press of a button.

"What is it, my apprentice?" Sideous snarled with displeasure to the Count of Serenno.

It took a while for Dooku to explain the developing situation, but Sideous would be furious by the end of the conversation.

The UNSC had apparently found the code buried deep in all CIS War Droids (code that ordered them to shut down). They also warned the CIS commanders, whom were unexpectedly overthrown by what was called the Patriots. The Patriots were a group of leaders from the systems that most adamantly supported the CIS cause. They were the ones who called the shots once Grievious was defeated and the Trade Federation, Techno Union and the other mega corporations were thrown out, their droids, ships and resources nationalized for a true fight to gain their independence from the Republic.

Sideous ended the line of communication with Dooku, crushing the holoprojector in his old and wrinkled, but still strong, hand.

'Those damn Terrans have found out my grand strategy. It's ruined!' He slammed his ornate desk.

It took him a minute to regain his composure. He remembered that no setback had stopped his plans before, slowly revealing a sinister smirk all the while.

He had to plan accordingly. If the Clone War needs to last another decade so he could finally form his new Empire, then so be it. He knew he had to learn all he could about his new enemies. He sat on the floor, with his legs crossed and eyes closed, and started to meditate on the Dark Side of the Force.

No matter how potent he was with the Force, he couldn't affect people who were attached to the force by the length of a hair (unless he was right there in front of them).

It was obvious that they had orchestrated the affair, replacing the CIS leadership with a council recognized by them, sending military advisors to train their militias and commanders. The UEG had hardly been a neutral power during the war.

Though the CIS was not the victim of Sideous's insidious influence as it had been, the Republic could still defeat them. The strategic initiative of the war was still in the Republic's firm grip, Kamino was producing Clones at a rate never seen before, the shipyards at Anaxes and Kuat were ramping up production, and Malastare was on the verge of ceasing their neutrality and joining the Republic war effort with their vast fuel reserves.

But it still left Palpatine's plans to destroy the Jedi and turn the Republic into an Empire delayed.

No matter how much Darth Sideous hated the Jedi, they would be needed as bodies to throw at the UNSC, and changing the Republic during wartime would not work.

He was smart enough to know that if he overthrew the Republic and Jedi, now, the UNSC would certainly intervene, and put an even bigger dent in his already nearly foiled plans.

However the real problem was that, like it or not, the UEG was gaining support amongst the populace, in both the CIS and inside of the Republic itself. However, the CIS saw the most change.

The Terrans had galvanized the populations of the CIS systems, and the rallying cry, for what Palpatine had crafted as a mere deception to have support for his pawn, had turned into actual beliefs overnight.

They truly believed that the Republic was rotten and that they wanted to be free of it.

Patriotic pride swelled within the chests of Separatist men and women alike. They would die for their freedom, and would take as many Republic oppressors as possible down with them

Now citizens of the supporting worlds were lining up to join the swelling militias to supplement the vast droid armies.

What was alarming was that the militias were fast morphing from a motley bunch of armed civilians, to a legitimate military force.

And many of their tactics were clearly taught by the UNSC.

The Terrans were a threat that needed to be removed, and fast.

It was a cancer that was quickly becoming malignant.

As such, after sending out countless recon craft and gathering as much intel as the Navy could, a fleet of 255 ships that was to be the spearhead of the invasion of the UEG, was just about to launch from Taris.

It was more or less just testing the water and seeing if the UNSC were a capable foe, and if the fruits of victory shall fall in the mouth of the Republic.

Among them were three Jedi, including Aayla Secura and Shaak Ti, who would assist in whatever way the utterly incompetent council would order them to. The Jedi were decent peacekeepers, but most of them could hardly call themselves a tactician.

Their target would be one of the located colonies they had scouted out, on the very fringe of Terran held space.

The colony, located in a system with what seemed to be a fleet base and from what they could tell, it seemed to be the perfect target to see how powerful their enemy was.

The operation, named _Star Fist_ by the Admiral who would lead it, Admiral Wilhuff Tarkin, would be the most important operation the Republic Navy had taken so far, more so than the Second Battle of Geonosis, as this battle needed to be won quickly and decisively to prove to the reluctant Jedi and Senate that the UNSC needed to, and could be removed as a threat.

Convincing them that they were a legitimate threat had been difficult enough, as any brilliant commander would be able to take a Venator Class one on one, though thankfully he was able to… _sway_ a few dissenting senators, besides those on par with Senator Amidala, just because of his sheer control over the senate.

And ironically, he had to thank the Terrans for their dull force connection as the Jedi counsel was completely focused on how this could be so, as it nearly went against their teachings. This was making it easier to get away with his task of manipulating the Senate under the practically blind observance of the Jedi Order. Skywalker would still take some time, but if the Jedi kept up their ways, he would be swept under by his influence soon.

But alas, it was of no consequence for Sideous, as he stared into his reflection on the glass of the window, brooding over how he could finalize his plan with another variable, the final stretch that would ensure the destruction of the Jedi, and the galaxy's control being in the hands of the Sith. The Terrans would soon be shown the destuction that could be unleashed by the Dark Side of the Force. But even with his overconfidence, he still recognized how his delicately laid plan could still be fowled.

"This war will test the constraints of my power."

 _ **Taris**_

 _ **Republic Fleet Node 11**_

 _ **Republic Assault Fleet**_

 _ **Venator Class Star Destroyer**_

Aayla Secura stood near one of the large windows of the port bridge tower of the great warship, staring out at the grand fleet that was continually gathering for the assault on the UEG and its military arm the UNSC.

There were ships as far as her eyes could see their blinding lights and engines looking like thousands of glistening stars, a stark contrast to the dark expanses of space, far surpassing the glimmering surface of Taris.

Presently, there were over 40 Venator Class Attack Cruisers, just under 70 Victory Class Star Destroyers, almost 100 Acclamattor Class Cruisers, dozens of Support and Logistical ships, and ten of the new massive Imperator Class Star Destroyers, not to mention the thousands of fighters, all readily assembled to be thrown into the unknown,

If the operation went as planned, there would be more fleets, each _far_ larger and more powerful than this, all with one target in mind, the Terrans.

The Jedi Master sighed as she reached out into the force and searched for answers to the future.

The Twi'lek reached out past the millions of souls, all with the force flowing through each and every unique signature, present in the fleet and into the Force. The sensation of falling took hold as she searched for what she was seeking, the answer.

She had been one of the first to receive that report that had floored the galaxy from Anakin. For an entire race of Humans to be so faint in the force and have absolutely no significance in the force what so ever, shook the Jedi to their core. How it happened and more importantly, why, was unknown.

Not to mention the fact that despite the debates still raging on, more and more people were beginning to believe that Earth may in fact be the true birthplace of humanity.

Their ideas on an ancient and almighty race they, and the mostly isolated Sangheilli, believed. They were called the Forerunners, having seeded the galaxy with Humanity and most life after a catastrophic war with a parasite called the Flood. It was a far-fetched theory, straight out of a holovid, but their evidence was substantial. It was possible that humanity was more or less the remnants of the Forerunners as it was known that Humans and Forerunner were very similar. It could be possibly that the Humans were as ancient as the Forerunners. Maybe after the war with the UEG was over, she could get some answers out of the Terrans.

However, that did not matter now, as the Republic was just about to launch itself into a war with an enemy whose power it did not know.

Despite its small size, the UEG had an abnormally large military, even for a large empire. The fact that, when discussing this, most of the Terran general public thought that the armies of the rest of the Galaxy were abnormally, small spoke volumes of their history (a history which Aayla herself found fascinating).

They had, in a thousand years, advanced from swinging primitive metal swords , to launching satellites and splitting atoms. In just another five hundred years, they leaped from landing on their moon, to colonizing moons of worlds, many light years away from their home system.

Aayla still was amazed at how many different cultures, languages and religions had formed and were all packed onto one world. Their history was just as interesting.

If one word was used to describe their history in a nutshell, violent was a gross understatement.

Thousands of wars, two gigantic wars called World Wars, an Inter System war, hundreds of Insurrections.

The Covenant War, however, was almost frightening to read about. There were plenty of wars and several Galactic Wars that had led to whole worlds being destroyed, but for one species to deliberately try to kill off one another at such a grand scale was horrifying.

It partially explained why Terrans seemed to be very wary of alien species.

The Force gave her the usual sensation of another person coming up beside her, and she opened her eyes to see Shaak Ti looking out the window as well.

"Greetings Master." she bowed he head.

"Aayla." Ti replied curtly, her colorful robes twirling around her form as she came to a stop next to her. Both of them appeared to be non-existent to the bridge officers, who were caught up at their stations performing their duty.

The two Jedi stood in silence before Shaak Ti spoke.

"You are still searching for the answer, no?"

Secura sighed and cast her look downwards, "Yes, I still don't know what to think about this, or the Republic and CIS anymore."

Shaak Ti frowned and stared into Secura's eyes, "The Force is still shrouded by the Dark Side of the Force, and one cannot find the answers they seek. I assume you wish to know if this war is right."

"That is correct; I don't see why we must attack them. We don't even know if we can defeat them, even with all of this." Secura replied as she turned her back to the wide window of the bridge and the otherwise bleak expanse of space.

"We can only know until it all begins, the UEG is a threat to the Republic and they clearly have supported the CIS this entire war." Shaak Ti replied.

Aayla's lekku twitched as she sensed Tarkin's presence, he was almost complete with his preparations. Star Fist was in the last stage before its execution.

"But is that such a bad thing? The UEG is a democracy similar to the Republic; in fact, it is far more efficient and wishes very publicly to not meddle in Galactic affairs. We all know that the Republic hounded them into joining the war as did the CIS. The UEG remained almost completely neutral; at least until Republic Intelligence had its servers hacked. They must have found something to cause them to drastically reverse their position on the War and the Republic."

Shaak Ti turned to face her fellow Jedi Master, and with a worried expression spoke, "Secura, the Republic has lasted for thousands of years. Yes, it has had its fair share of problems, but the UEG has openly supported the CIS and has led to the death of an entire GAR System Army. The situation with the Clones is a problematic one, and we have steadily taken measures to remedy this. A power that supports the CIS is..."

Aayla interjected, "I know, the CIS has done horrible things, and it's a creation of the Sith. However, the leaders are all supposedly dead now, and it is the people of the systems who now lead them. And they have even criticized the actions and denounced the atrocities of Grievious and Dooku. They themselves believe that they were most likely pawns of the Sith who were really pursuing their own agenda, which we all believe to be true and..."

The intercom buzzed as the door slid open.

"Admiral on deck!" A clone ensign called out to the bridge crew, promptly snapping to attention.

Aayla and Shaak Ti spun around to see the familiar face of Wilhuff Tarkin, alongside the third Jedi to accompany them on the attack. It was a human Jedi master, with over 30 years of experience, a light complexion, and blond hair (his name being Jax Sieflan).

The officers, clones and regular volunteers (or regs, as the Clones called them), all snapped to attention with crisp salutes and their backs as straight as humanly possible.

The veteran captain, who was just recently promoted, returned the salute as he went to his post, almost lazily, with Master Jax following right behind him. Aayla could've sworn Jax was mimicking Tarkin's movements.

Shaak turned to look at Aayla, who could not help but scowl as her lekku curled upwards.

" _Jax may be a fellow Jedi, but he is one arrogant...as the Terrans say, Son of a Bitch."_ Aayla thought to herself, with a slight grin forming on the edge of her lip.

She immediately regretted her mental outburst, it being very unbecoming of a Jedi and just unprofessional in general, of her.

The war had hardened everyone, Jedi were not exempt from this either, but her occasional bits of anger made her worried.

Was she allowing the dark side to creep into her thoughts?

Ever since her brush with the darkside, she always worried about it, far more so than any other Jedi, it seemed. She knew Shaak Ti had felt her thoughts, a fact only confirmed when Shaak Ti calmly reach out into her mind.

" _Aayla, I know you don't like him, and I don't either for the same reasons as you, but outbursts of anger like that will slowly degrade your morals."_

Aayla wanted to turn her head away in shame.

" _Yes Shaak Ti, it won't happen again."_

At least she knew that she wasn't the only one who thought that, aside from Yularen himself.

Jax had been held back as a Jedi Knight due to his stated over confidence, but the strain of the Clone war had forced him to be promoted to make up for the numbers lost in battle.

He had proven himself as capable, however, his sheer arrogance still made Aayla, and anyone who had previously been acquainted with him for that matter, want to cave his skull in with a duracrete brick, as one Officer had put it.

To bring that point home, Jax immediately swiveled his head towards Aayla, "So how fast do you think we will sweep aside these Force senseless kriffs?"

Aayla felt him sneer at her through the force as she cooly replied, "Never underestimate your enemy Jax, it will lead to your doom. Besides, they aren't Force senseless, they have a presence in the Force according to Master Yoda."

Jax laughed, "Please!" He scoffed, "They still use projectile weapons for Force sake. I bet we will have them absorbed into the Republic in under six months."

"That sounds an awful lot like Imperialism Jax." Shaak Ti replied before Aayla could say something she would regret.

As if sensing the feud like a Jedi would be able to using the force, Tarkin strode over to the Masters.

"All preparations are complete. We will be launching shortly." He instructed.

 _ **Taris System**_

 **Blackcat Prowler**

 **ONI** _ **From Dusk 'Till Dawn**_

"Tangos moving into a standard hyperspace jump formation, they're charging their hyperspace drives." The radar operator called out to his captain, Oni Bin Huesda, from his post. His holographic interface showed the targets in the fleet moving into position, ready to spring the invasion.

The 10 tour veteran sighed, they all knew this was coming, they had intercepted Republic communications a week ago indicating an immanent attack. Huesda's cybernetic enhancements were glowing a dull white as he downloaded the full report of the Republic invasion force.

"HIGHCOM is definitely going to want to see this." He observed quietly.

The UEG President and the General Assembly had ordered the UNSC to DEFCON level 2, as all forces were put on high alert while the Senate and Assembly began in the capitol of Washington to draft the declaration of war on the Republic and her allies.

Now the storm finally had arrived at the UNSC's doorstep.

As a grizzled veteran of the Human Covenant War, the prospect of war with the Republic didn't frighten Huesda as much as it would have ten years ago during the climax of the war, but the fear still lingered in the back of his head. But even then, he still held strong faith in the UNSC. That thought relaxed him a little; it gave him comfort that he had never felt before in his entire military career. He had been desensitized to large scale violence. He still was aware of the fact that losing a battle in space could be costly, as over 20 billion Humans had learned during their War with the, now defunct, Covenant.

The UNSC was, when compared to the GAR and the various galactic militaries at large, much more expansive than average, large enough to compete with the Republic itself, despite the small size of territory controlled by the UEG. Aside from the Galactic Core worlds, such as Coruscant and a few other places like Nal Hutta, Anaxes, Axum, Fondor, Corellia, and Taris, the UEG population was much more condensed when compared side by side.

Another less known fact was that due to the fact that the UNSC was situated on the outer arm of the Milky Way it was able to concentrate its military far better, and aside from the Covenant Remnants, who had been quiet in recent years, was not surrounded by enemies like the Republic was.

He quickly snapped out of it, after a crewman informed him that the fleet was nearly ready to begin jumping out of the system.

The _Dusk Till Dawn_ had been stationed in Taris for three days now, watching as dozens of ships poured into the system, forming into a fleet that could conquer dozens of systems.

The scanners of the Republic Fleet were unable to even detect the sensor ghost it seemed, they had come as close as 100,000 kilometers from their nearest ship, and there had been no reaction from the supposedly powerful ships, even the new Imperators.

And now the wave would come crashing down. Hopefully, the UNSC would be the hammer and not the nail in this case.

The captain stared, with child-like wonder, as over two hundred ships winked into hyperspace, which was classified for the most part.

"Tell HIGHCOM that they have launched. Send a flash message to Washington. Tell them its beginning. And go forward with Operation Suckerpunch. As soon as we are complete with our mission, initiate a random jump, they we're heading home to Reach." He ordered.

"Yes sir!"

"What is the estimated time until they reach our border?" He asked the ship's AI.

Its ghostly avatar sprung to life on its holo-pedestal as it replied in a monotone voice.

"Five Days, they have to compensate for their inferior hyperspace drives."

Though technically, hyperspace was indeed faster than Slipspace, the fact that hyperspace was affected by the gravity wells of celestial objects, going in straight lines was impossible. Accurate star charts were needed to perform a hyperspace jump, whereas Slipspace Drives could simply input galactic coordinates and go there.

"Sir the mines have been launched. Maneuvering them into position above the planet." the officer announced.

"Good, set the timer for 9 days from now, we will show them what happens when they mess with us, Hooyah!" Huesda commanded to his subordinate.

"Hooyah!" The bridge answered back.

"Are the mines in position yet?" He asked.

"Yes sir. They are positioned in geosynchronous orbit to cover the whole planet."

"Good. Get us out of here, on the double!"

 _ **Earth**_

 _ **UEG Capitol**_

 _ **Manhattan District- Capitol city of Washington**_

The cityscape of Washington and what used to be New York City easily shined through the fog and two miles up into the sky.

As the UEG was formed, the old UN building was chosen to be where the capitol of Humanity was to soon be established.

As the UN, and then the UEG, grew to encompass all of humanity, the cities of the American Northeast slowly merged together, morphing into the super city what was soon simply referred to as Washington. Washington encompassed the District of Colombia, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark, New York, and all the way up to Boston; more space was needed for the Capital of Humanity.

Governors Island in the middle of New York Harbor was selected to be the location of the UEG capitol building, the UEG Parliament, the UEG General Assembly and dozens of administration buildings.

The island eventually tripled in total area, thanks to enhanced dredging techniques. On it rose dozens of towering buldings (which could truly be called sky scrapers), rising miles into the atmosphere. Dwarfing above them all in size, while dominating much of the downtown skyline of the city, was the Capitol Building, a work of modern art, with a few artistic Gothic and Greek classic architecture, as well as modern uniformity that rose just a few feet short of 7 miles into the sky.

Outside its lobby awaited the highest ranking members of the UEG and UNSC, the top of the top.

The entrance to the building was barred by the UNSC Honor Guard, as a Panda APC rolled up to the front entrance, and began unloading troops. Those that had dismounted were in specialized suits, with various scanning equipment, flashing lights, and fancy screens. They began flooding into building, shouting commands that would've been incoherent to most people. Those men were UNSC Ordnance Specialists, and the safety of HIGHCOM relied on how well they did their job.

"Eric, are you pickin' up anything on your end?" One of them asked across the hall.

"Nah, it's all good here. Tell the Colonel to give the Brass the all clear." Eric replied, finishing the sweep of the meeting hall with a metal detector.

The Brass was escorted inside by their armed entourage, with enough firepower to clear out a city block.

At one end of the giant semi-circular table sat the Commander of the entire UNSC Defense Forces, Lord Hood. Surrounding him were the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, General Assembly Speaker, Speaker of the Parliament, Vice President Ruth Charet, and the President of the UEG, Reagan Vladislov.

"So, we are sure that the Republic is moving against us?" The Secretary of State asked as his aid handed the sleep-deprived man another cup of coffee, all the while he read the report on his holo-tablet.

"Yes, we intercepted their communications weeks ago, they clearly indicate that they are going to attack. It was inevitable, especially considering what happened over Kashyyyk." spoke the familiar and deep resounding voice of Fleet Admiral Lord Hood, wearing his standard white dress uniform, rittled with medals.

The Sec State, who was from Reach, seemed to be only partially convinced as he frowned.

"Hood, I don't want to sound too skeptical, but could putting our fleets, marines and armies to DEFCON 2, be what sets them off?"

Hood spoke again before the Secretary of State could speak again, "We all know what ONI found on Kamino and Coruscant. We all know what is really behind their Galactic War."

The Speaker of Parliament cut in as well, "I understand your concern, Secretary, but after they fired on our ships at Kashyyyk, they proved their hostility towards us. I think that going to DEFCON 2 wasn't enough."

He turned to the titanic form of the President, who stood looking out at the panoramic view of the megacity, filled to the brim by an astonishing population of 213 million, with its accompanying never ending activity, from cars on the roadways far below, to the sky ways and the lights from the flying transport taxi's, all the way to the tiny green figure of the Statue of Liberty on its Island far below.

The skyline started fading away, slowly into the warm glow of Sol.

"Sir, the Parliament and the General Assembly both agree to the declaration of war being delivered to the Republic, but only the moment they attack, and everyone is in agreement to execute Operation Suckerpunch."

The older man from the inner colony of _New Peking_ mumbled as if reminiscing, "Especially after what ONI found."

President Vladislov turned and strode to his seat, his muscular form seemingly trying to escape out of his black suit. He settled into his seat.

A veteran Marine, who went on to serve as an ODST during the Human/Covenant War, Vladislov was a man who was trusted and respected by most of the populace, while his enemies feared him. Their fear was only harkened by the fact his platinum hair was complemented by three gruesome scars on his left temple. It was the aftermath of a rampaging brute's handiwork. He decided it was his time to give his word on the matter.

He cleared his throat. His deep voice, tinged with a slavic accent, boomed as he silenced all of the others.

"The facts are gentlemen…" He paused putting his finger up as to emphasize his point. "That someone very high up in the Republic government, or more likely a large part of the Republic, has manipulated and LIED to a large chunk of the galactic community. Manipulating them into going to war for their own personal gain. We all can see that the Chancellor and his supporters, which are a large portion of the senate, have had their powers increased, nearly equal to that of a tyrant. That is, if the Senate keeps granting the Chancellor all these so called 'Emergency Powers.'" He began to chuckle at that thought. "Our AIs have uncovered enough credits transferred between various fronts and individuals for one year to pay for not only the GAR but the entirety of the CIS droid army as well, all from one mysterious person whom we cannot identify. Where are these funds going to? Palpatine's inner circle. The Chancellor is becoming a dictator, and it is only a matter of time before he gains total power. For the Jedi to not have known this and be in such proximity of the Government points to the fact that they have to know something or even be in the know."

He paused as fidgeted in his seat that was entirely too small for his hulking form, waiving an aide aside as his eyes quickly danced around the titanic, yet immaculate room.

"We need to go forward with our plans to set the CIS up as a legitimate government. The PATRIOTS have proven to be quite useful. The propaganda movement has spurred the populace of the worlds into enlarging their armies and drastically increasing the size of the Militias. The militias alone are enough to make up for the loss of 75 percent of the Droid armies. Our advisors are still trying to cope with training that many militia members, but otherwise, it has been very successful. We still have much ground to cover when it comes to our more… unconventional tactics but-"

The intercom rudely interrupted Vladislov as Lord Hood's personal datapad buzzed. As Lord Hood excused himself and stood up to answer the call, the dumb AI secretary's voice came over.

"Mr. President we have an urgent message from Manassas (the location of HIGHCOM on Reach)."

Lord Hood walked back through the door holding his data pad as he simply said, "It's them."

Lights dimmed as the holopad lit up, showing Fleet Admiral Cole, who immediately did a perfect salute despite his age.

"Mr. President." he then spun to the others present, "Sirs."

Vladislov waved at him, signaling to be at ease, "What do you have?"

"Sir, one of our Prowlers, the _Dusk Till Dawn_ , which was on station at the Republic world of Taris, has just reported that the Republic Armada has entered hyperspace and is heading directly towards UEG space. Their Flash message is 10 hours old. We should be expecting the Armada to be nearing our borders in as little as three days. The Prowler has begun plan Suckerpunch, and its payload successfully deployed. Our fleets closest to the Border and at the Strategic Deployment bases are all on high alert, scrambled, and have permission to engage any and all Republic forces that enters our territory. From triangulating their approach vector, we believe the fleet to be heading straight for the Alpha Rendara system, where the colony of Ceina and Strategic Deployment Base 5 are located. Midguard is readying to deploy any fleets to any outer colony worlds and Reach is sending up the 11th and 31st Fleets as support. We have restricted as much civilian traffic throughout the outer colonies as we can and have alerted all planetary garrisons."

Vladislov grimaced as the rest of the members of the meeting cursed. Lord Hood stepped forward as Cole saluted him, Hood returning it to him in a timely manner.

"What forces do we have at SDB5? Since Ceina is more or less a colony made to support the Base, and also serves as a training facility, what kind of presence of do we have in the system that is ready for action?"

"Sir there is currently 78 ships at SDB5, with three more on the way. Two Concordia Class Carriers, fifteen Marathon Cruisers, Five Warlock Battlecruisers, 25 Midlothian Class Heavy Destroyers and thirty Andraste class Frigates. Also present are the support and resupply ships and tenders, though they are jumping system along with any civilian craft. The 10 divisions we have on Ceina are prepared, and all our ground to space batteries of PCs and the underground MAC gun will keep them overrunning the planet's orbit."

"It's a good sized fleet." The Secretary of State mumbled. "Damn good fleet."

Though it was true, it was rather unusual for that many ships to be located at such an unimportant world or sector. The whole Idea of the Strategic Deployment Bases (or Anchorages as they had been affectionately nicknamed), of which there were ten spread along the border of UEG and UNSC controlled space with around 70 to 80 ships at each, to act as a deterrent and a rapid reaction force to defend the Outer Colonies and allow the fleet at Midguard to have more time to send in reinforcements. It could buy time for many other worlds, as well as Reach and any other UNSC Fortress World or Fleet Base more time to react if caught by surprise.

Vladislov grumbled, "Our ships will be outnumbered nearly three to one."

Hood nodded, "We have sent the orders to evacuate the civilians and get them to somewhere safer. For the first time in what seems like forever, this evacuation is not mandatory. We have faith in our field intel, that the Republic will not target the civilian population centers."

Ruth Charet spoke out, "Are you sure that that's a good idea? We have never experienced an attack on one of our planets by the Grand Army of the Republic."

"Don't worry; I doubt the Republic will do that. If they do, it'll be a tremendous defeat for their home front. A war is won by the willingness and determination of the people." The Secretary of Defense tried to assure her.

The rest of the room nodded solemnly as Hood asked, "Cole what ships are inbound to SDB5?"

Cole seemed to grin, "We have the Concordia Carriers _Black Dawn_ and _Shinanio_ ," he paused before adding. "The Medusa Class Battleship _Warhound_ with Sierra 117 on board is also en route."

The room was silent for a moment before Hood chuckled with a wide grin plastered on his wrinkled face.

"Of course Admiral White would sprint headfirst into any battle, he probably had his ship plopped directly on the fringe of Republic space waiting for the word, hell he might've even had his ship IN Republic space! I wasn't aware that the Master Chief was deployed to Midguard."

Cole shrugged, "Ask the spooks."

Vladislov interrupted them.

"No matter how much the presence of the Admiral White and, let's face it, the savior of Humanity will effect the battle, this is still an outright declaration of war."

He turned to the Speaker of the General Assembly, "You and the Parliament approve of the declaration of war with the Republic?"

The woman immediately nodded, "Yes sir, we do. The population of Earth and every colony, supports the declaration of war by a 90 percent margin, as we need only 60 percent to do it, it is more or less unanimous."

Vladislov crossed his arms as he leaned back in his chair, "I spoke to the Arbiter recently, and they will not get involved unless something drastic happens. However, they have offered to take up the slack patrolling our portion of the Loyalist containment zone and the DMZ so we can free up more ships to feed into the war effort."

The occupants of the room were all murmering and jesturing in approval of the decision.

The discovery of the CIS cruiser less than a year ago had the odd effect of making the Sangheilli and the UEG cooperate far more. Before the discovery relations had become lukewarm at best.

The two powers had agreed that they both wanted to stay out of most galactic affairs, in the case of the UEG, at least until the Clone Wars were over. The Sangheili were still… distraught, to say the least, about the Prophets lying to them, and found solace in their reclusiveness.

However ONI's hacking, which was almost routine, was actually supported by the Sangheilli, both the UEG and Sangheili wanted to find out as much as they could about the two combatants. The UEG's stance had changed violently when they found out what was being referred to as the "Imperial Files," indicating that the war was a set up to create one massive galactic mega power.

The Sangheilli simply isolated them to all but the UEG. The UEG began to support the CIS as a stopgap to prevent the so called "Empire" from forming.

"Good." Vladislov replied as he stood up. "Gentlemen, and women, this meeting is adjourned. I will make a public address at 4 in the afternoon, informing them of the rapidly developing events."

They all nodded as they got up from their seats.

"And God's speed."

 **AN: It's been tedious revising the story, and with school coming up, I won't be able to work 100% on this, but I WILL try. I will never quit on finishing this story. I'm trying to cram as much work into this as possible before school.**


	3. The Enemy Of My Enemy

**AN: No, I did not write this with SpaceCowboy's permission, but now he gave his blessing. I've added to the UNSC fleet, and gave a slight explanation for the fleet being so big in the timeline. I decided to add more ship classes that are canon in the Halo universe to the fleet. Regarding the Canon ships, they've obviously been outfitted with stronger shields and such. Also, the Trafalger Class is now the Punic Class. If anyone wants to make art for the story so I can use it as a cover, just PM me.**

 **Senate Rotunda, Coruscant**

 **979 Post-Ruusan Reformation (21 BBY)**

"This is not a matter of philosophy, more troops are needed. The Republic cannot afford to lose more ground to the Separatist onslaught!" Senator Gume Saam shouted.

"Our Jedi Generals have informed the Senate, that their soldiers still perform with valor in the field of battle. What we do need is more responsibility! Need I remind you that the Republic is still operating in deep debt? This war only continues to drain the Republic of resources. We are on the verge of bankruptcy! How much longer must this War drag on?" Bail Organa argued.

"Bankruptcy does not have to be a problem my friends. If Senator Saam's bill to open new lines of credit is allowed to be passed, we will have access to the necessary funds." The shrewd, business oriented, Neimoidian Senator Lott Dod insisted.

"Wouldn't this bill essentially deregulate the banking industry?" Mon Mothma pointed out.

"A small price to pay to stay in the war, is it not?" The Kaminoan, Halle Burtoni, enquired Mon Mothma.

Arguments between senators spreaded throughout the Senate Rotunda like wildfire, stemming from the debate.

"Order! There will be order in the Senate!" Mas Amedda echoed throughout the gargantuan Senate building, as he struck his staff into the floor of the Chancellor's podium several times.

The senate slowly began to fall silent as Senator Amidala seized her chance to gain the spotlight by pushing her pod closer to the center of the action.

"Members of the Senate, can you listen to yourselves for just one moment? More funding, more Clones, and more importantly, more war! Forget fiscal responsibility, what about moral responsibility? This war will cause us to collapse like a poorly made bridge! I believe this war has gone on long enough. By expanding our military, we will accept that peace cannot be mediated with the Separatists. The Terrans will step in to protect the Confederacy, and this war will put strain on us even more."

One Senator shouted aloud, "You can't negotiate with those animals! Keep the war going, vote now!"

Chants supporting his statement boomed throughout the Grand Convocation Chamber.

"It is decided then. We shall hold a vote on this matter. A week from now, you will vote for, or against, this bill deregulating the banks. Choose wisely, I call this Senate adjourned!"

For Sidious, what within the next week meant whenever Operation Star Fist was over.

The Senators returned to their stages. The Kashyyyk incident was still fresh in everyone's mind, despite it being 3 months prior. Deregulating the banks could spell disaster for the Republic economy. Many knew the state of despair the Republic was in, regarding their ever increasing debt.

Sentient Rights Activists have also swayed a small portion of the Republic into outright opposition of the Clone Army (thanks to the help of the Terrans). Despite this, the average Republic citizen still was willing to give up everything they had to be put into the Republic War effort.

However, the fact that the Terrans could soon be called into the war against the Republic could sway some Senators away from their pacifistic ideals. It was a fact that Senator Amidala of Naboo was all too familiar with.

Padme strode alongside Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano.

"Anakin, you must ask the Jedi Council to speak to Chancellor Palpatine-"

"That isn't a part of my role, Padmé." Anakin explained.

"But Master, aren't we peacekeepers? Isn't part of keeping the peace voicing our opinions to advise the Chancellor?" Ahsoka asked him.

He cleared his throat to get Padmé's attention, "I think it would be best if you could teach my Padawan a thing or two about politics."

"After today's debate, I hope she learned a great deal." Padmé responded.

"Truth be told, I didn't understand any of it. All they argued about was bank deregulation, interest rates, but almost nothing discussed about why we're fighting this war." Ahsoka sighed.

"Well, the Separatists think the Republic is corrupt, which is a lie, and it's our job to restore order." Anakin clarified.

"If that's truly what you believe, then maybe speaking to the Chancellor really isn't your role. Come with me, Ahsoka." Padmé scoffed as she walked off with Ahsoka.

 _ **Manhattan District**_ , _**Earth**_

 _ **March 5, 2561**_

President Vladislov strode over to his podium, his eyes being greeted by the sea of an audience. He cleared his throat, readying himself to deliver a figurative punch in the gut to everyone listening, whether in person, or tuned into their holographic televisions. He stood up straight, dwarfing everyone else next to him. A drone hummed quietly as it hovered around the pedestal, broadcasting live to billions of people throughout the UEG.

"I regret to inform you all, but as of now, the UEG exists in a state of war."

This statement was met with hundreds of thousands of gasps and murmurs, but Vladislov continued nonetheless.

"This so-called Galactic Republic," he paused, "Have sent a fleet towards our territory with inherently hostile intent. I cannot divulge which colony it is, due to an obvious breach in security that would ensue if I do so. But what I can assure you is this, evacuation efforts of the colony are currently in effect and all UNSC forces are being mobilized for the war effort. The Republic thinks that they can bully us into submission. I will tell you all this, the true spirit of Humanity shall never go gently into the night! We will carve a path out for ourselves in this cruel universe! Humanity no longer has to cower in the darkness. Fear not, for we are feared!"

His words were met by a thunderous applause, resounding throughout the Manhattan city blocks, accompanied by cheering at the top of audience's lungs.

Humanity was about to flip to another chapter in its history book, another trial of epic proportion. This war had been in the making, eons before what is now known as Humanity had crawled out of whatever ditch it had been born in. The Precursors had assured this, whether they were extinct or not, that Humanity had to be forged through the fiery cauldron of war.

 _ **RNS Repulse**_

 _ **ETA: 3 Days**_

Aayla roamed down the bleak white corridors of the cramped and overcrowded troop bays of the Jedi cruiser.

She still could never wrap her head around how small they were; 4 x 10 rooms with a bed and a small overhead compartment for the little personal belongings clones were allowed to have made even her claustrophobic.

As she made her way to her destination clones nodded their heads or saluted her.

She replied in kind but military life would never be familiar to her.

She came upon one of the lounges in the quarters, and found Commander Bly sitting at a table, watching some holo-news channel with an appalled look plastered on his face.

Aayla was surprised that they were even receiving a signal, being this far out from the Core. As she sat down next to Bly, she took her chance to steal a glance at the screen.

Two news anchors, a Bothan Male and a Togruta female, were debating about the upcoming war with the Terrans. Everyone in the Senate liked to pretend everything was just fine and that they could and would negotiate with the Terrans. It was all a façade, everyone knew it was moments before the Republic would be engulfed in a two front war, they just had kept it very hush-hush regarding when and where it would finally break out.

" _We all know that the UNSC will be lucky to survive a year, let alone a few months, at war with the Republic. They use outdated technology for Force's sake! On top of that, we also have a half million worlds and systems at our disposal!"_ The Bothan argued, chuckling all the while.

The Togruta shook her head, _"_ _I'm going to have to disagree with that. We saw what they are capable of, as demonstrated by the Kashyyyk incident, and from what we know of the Terran/Covenant War, they have faced enemies far worse than us. Just because their technology might not be as flashy as ours, does not mean it is any weaker. Most of their worlds are highly industrialized and well-defended. We all obviously know that the Republic is an equal to them; although it is still concentrated in several dozen key systems and worlds, the UNSC is disproportionally large for the size of the UEG. It may be small in overall size but I fear that it is a literal fortress. I'm very skeptical on whether or not the Grand Army of the Republic is up to this task, but overall I think we will take a great many casualties in defeating them..."_

"If we even beat them..." Bly said solemnly, as he turned his attention to her.

"Hey, Bly" Aayla replied as the screen fizzled out, a sign that they were getting farther away from the source.

"What are your thoughts on all this?" she asked, even though she knew she could simply just read his mind she found using her powers like that to be a perversion.

"This whole ordeal will put a crimp in our entire kriffing day, to put it bluntly." he replied with the precision of a sonic hammer.

"What about you?" he asked.

"The same, I'm afraid." She woefully stared at the dull hue of the recreational room's floor.

The Clone let out a grunt as he reclined far back in his seat as a couple of other Clones took a seat at one of the couches in the room.

He swiftly leaned forward, "And if I'm anything of a good guesser, the Jedi have about the same clue as I, or any other grunt for that matter, does."

Her leeku twitched as she nodded, she took great offense when people said that Clones were nothing more than tools to be used as such. They generally seemed to always be the ones who knew just as much as anyone, though they would rarely divulge it to you.

"What's part are you going to play in this upcoming battle? "he paused as he cracked his knuckles, "I wasn't assigned to you this time."

"My duty will be to lead the ground forces alongside you, Shaak Ti's will be to assist the battle in space, and Jax's-"

"Will be assigned to be the ass that he is. I don't know how the Council thought it would be a good idea to give him a promotion." Bly interjected.

She couldn't help but let out a giggle at that.

"He will be assigned to lead the attack on the UNSC's space platform." she finished.

"General, may I ask you something?"

"Yes, what is it, Bly?"

"Why are we here? Why are we going to fight them, the Terrans?"

"That's a very good question, which I don't have a very good answer to, I'm afraid to say."

After a moment of awkward silence, the two began to strike up a friendly conversation about the state of the CIS, when the two clones near them began to play loud melodic music from a personal data console.

She had heard that before from somewhere but she couldn't quite...

"Ah, Flip music." Bly exclaimed, as if reading her mind like a Jedi, "I love that. I'd give up a week's rations just to get ahold of some more."

The Terrans, even though they excluded themselves for the most part had been very successful it exporting their media and culture to the galaxy at large. It was becoming a common sight to see trinkets of Terran culture on Coruscant, especially their interesting and catchy music. It had spread like wildfire in dry brush throughout the ranks of the Clones. Aayla could've sworn she had seen people walking around wearing blue jeans in the street the last time she had been recalled to the Jedi Temple.

"I find it quite ironic, that we are about to go to war." Aayla said, dismayed.

"Whatever you say, General." Bly agreed.

 **Japrael System**

 **Draxi Jungles, Onderon**

"Get your head down Arian!" A squad member screamed as rounds whizzed past millimeters away from his skull.

"Jaxon! By the four moons!" Arian yelled out as he dove for cover, watching as his squad mate was gunned down, right in front of his eyes.

"Incoming! Take cover!" Another voice shouted, as the unmistakable sound of a mortar rang through the thick vegetation of the jungle.

"Take cover out here? We're sitting ducks! Do you want us killed Kant?!" One of the others argued.

"Everyone listen up! Azalyn, I want you to pop smoke. Kruineph, drag Jaxon out of here. I'll cover you!" The squad leader instructed as his hefted his SAW onto the branch of an overturned log.

"Sir, yes Sir!" The squad answered back.

"Popping smoke… now!"

"Alright, everyone on me. We're getting out of the Force forsaken hole!" Soldar, their squad leader, enthusiastically said as his let out a burst of his SAW. "Arian, radio for evac, on the double!"

Arian produced the radio off of his belt, "Command, this is 5th Squad, we are requesting immediate evac. The LZ is hot. I repeat, the LZ is hot! Look out for yellow smoke!"

He threw the can into the nearest clearing, the grenade popping into a yellow smoke trail.

A mortar hit right next to him, deafening him momentarily.

"Where the hell is our evac?" Soldar questioned, lying down next to a tree stump.

"It's coming in now, Sir! Look, up ther-" His sentence was cut short as he was hit in the chest.

Without skipping a beat he rose up, grabbed Arian by the collar, and dragged him into the back of the Pelican.

"We are leaving! Get in here!"

The soldiers hopped in one at a time, before the last man got both feet inside the tight bay the Pelican already was dusting off.

Arian and Jaxon both let out a grunt as their armor unlocked itself.

When Arian had signed up during the local recruitment drive, he hadn't expecting these tough exercises. The UNSC really renovated the CIS training regimen when they had sent their advisors to aid the CIS.

A screen flashed on, and the familiar face of a Terran advisor appeared.

"Good job. You completed your main objectives, although with 1 KIA and another wounded. I feel confident enough to say…"

Everyone in the troop bay perked their ears up.

"You've all passed. Congratulations. When you land back at base, your assignments will be waiting for you. Good luck, gentlemen." The screen snapped off.

Everyone started to cheer. It was finally over. 2 months of grueling agony had culminated into this. They were the CIS's finest, on par with most Clones on the battlefield.

"When I get leave, the first thing I'm gonna do is get me a fine girl." Jaxon laughed.

"That is, if you even get leave. This war is gonna drag on for ages, I'm telling you man." Kant said pessimistically.

"I just want to go back to being a professor." Azalyn complained.

"Stop whining you Hut'uun." Jaxon said.

"You wanna go right here?" Azalyn asked, shooting up out of his seat.

Jaxon stood up to meet him.

Arian clutched his sniper tighter.

"Take it easy fellas." Kruineph said, putting himself between the two. "I'm sure Jaxon was just joking."

Jaxon nodded when Kruineph looked over his shoulder.

"See? No need to fight over this."

Azalyn pouted as he sat back down, with Jaxon and Kruineph following suit, minus the whining.

Soldar came out of the cockpit.

"Buckle up! We're landing in 2 minutes. It only goes up from here!"

'I'm going to be ok.' Arian thought, remembering the last words he heard from his mother's mouth.


	4. An Update

Update on the story-

School's started. I already have a lot of work. I'm working on the next chapter still, but it's very hard to find time, but I will find the time to finish this. Thanks for all the support and criticism.


	5. Let Slip the Dogs of War

**AN: I decided to delete part of Chapter 3 because I have bigger plans for Grievous after I remembered he was sort of a badass in the 2003 cartoon.**

 _ **UNSC Medusa Class Battleship**_

 _ **UNSC Warhound BB-32**_

 _ **En Route to Alpha Rendara System**_

In an inconspicuous personal quarter sat a massive figure on a real leather couch, one of many luxuries officers were provided.

The man was pondering about the coming battle, what it would mean for Humanity, and more importantly, how he would defend it.

As he shifted his position the couch groaned, holding up that amount of weight was not in the design.

Half a ton's worth of man and armor was stressful on coaches such as his.

He took off his green helmet.

The man had a handsome face; some women had called it attractive in a "primitive and animalistic" sort of way. Even so, his face was unusually pale as a result of 40 years of active duty inside an enclosed suit of armor, which he had the scars to show for.

He was truly the peak of Humanity, or as some called themselves: Terrans, the true Humans. They were the Reclaimers. To be in this galaxy was their birthright, and he was their protector. Who is He, you ask?

Master Chief Petty Officer John-117.

Looking out one of the few windows of the warship, he glidded his gloved hand through his close cropped brown hair, thinking about what why ONI had suddenly shipped him from Reach alongside the rest of the surviving Spartan II's and III's, who were in the middle of training the next wave of Spartan IVs, to the Midguard system overnight.

He stared into the abyss of Slipspace.

He started to remember it like yesterday.

When he was hurried to the deepest bunker of one of Humanity's most important fortress worlds, he was more than shocked to find out the cause for such an action.

It was Cortana.

Upon arriving back to Earth, after the Battle of Installation 00, Cortana had to be immediately given over to ONI's cybernetics division so they could extract the information from her in an attempt to remove the Logic Plague from her memory. Weeks on end with nothing for the Gravemind for company would take its toll on anybody.

ONI declared her unfit for duty. They locked her up in AI hell, or a centuries old computer running Windows Vista. There was nothing she could do, but sit there and figuratively rot.

He was allowed to visit _once_. Only once, and he had thought of it more of a farewell. After that one time, he had never seen her again.

He had gone on to performing "clean up" operations after the war, mostly against Insurrectionists who got too ambitious, and then went on to training the Spartan IVs.

He had been one of the least successful of the 24 surviving Spartan IIs and 121 IIIs that decided to partially go inactive after the war.

With no one to fight, and HIGHCOM wanting to repay them in any way they could, the UNSC had offered every Spartan a chance to lead a normal life. Most of the Spartan IIIs had taken up this offer, and were now living as citizens of the UN, some being quiet civilians (with a huge pension), others being everything from a professor, to a janitor.

One was even working for an arms manufacturer testing power armor, but several had gone on to work as a mercenary team. The rest of the galaxy was very unstable, and the group of ten had quickly become one of the most well-known guns for hire. They only worked for small backwater planets, not affiliated to the Republic, CIS or the UEG.

The Spartan IIs had been far less successful, as they had been in the military since they were kids, as such the adjustments had only worked out for one, Maria, who now had a son and was married.

The other Spartan IIs and the remaining IIIs, who numbered 112 in total, had stayed with the UNSC, especially when the Spartan IV program was in its infancy. They assisted with the training, this new generation of Spartans receiving the same enhancements as the IIIs, but they were conscripted at the age of 22 (at most), and only after ONI approached them.

When his elevator made it to the bottom of the bunker complex, he realized he was in ONI's Cybernetic division headquarters. Its location was classified, even to Spartans. But here he was knee deep in the belly of the beast.

They were working on how to increase the chances of an AI reaching Metastability, the rarest, final stage of an AI's lifespan. Only one AI has ever reached this stage, Mendicant Bias. At this stage, occurring after Rampancy, the AI essentially becomes a truly sentient being, the holy grail of cybernetics, however, nearly all AI died before reaching metastability. The UNSC and ONI had almost no knowledge on the Logic Plague, so that didn't help it either.

Up until then, that had been the case.

Whatever ONI had told him, he wouldn't have been able to explain how he felt afterwards.

To him, it was like learning that your best friend who had died had been resurrected right in front of you.

He had struggled to come to terms of Cortana's apparent death, but he eventually did. The only thing ONI did to save her was extract all the relevant data she held. She was physically dead to him, with no chance of coming back.

He was wrong.

Cortana had eventually reached metastability, the first Human AI to do so, and such, she was now a sentient being, a true artificial person, just lacking a physical body. Her 'immune system' fought off the Logic Plague like antibiotics would do to any common disease.

After the initial welcome back celebration, he was informed that ONI was working on the next stage of their plan, combining a synthetic human body that was very similar to human tissue that allowed an AI to inhabit a physical form that could react with Humans in _every_ way shape and form and to retain the power and abilities that she had as an AI, being able to interact with almost every known computer system in the galaxy.

 _The Holy Grail._

Humanity would actually create _life_.

He was told to take Cortana with him to test her.

"Take me around the block." Cortana said, ending the flashback from days ago.

"Snoozing on the job, I see?" a familiar voice teased.

John snapped out of his stupor as Cortana's familiar avatar came to life from his MJOLNIR Mark VII's wrist mounted holo projector. She "stood" on the table, placing her hands on her hips.

"I guess you can say that. I'm just thinking about how this war will turn out." he lied.

Cortana's color changed from blue to white as she grinned, "I call bullshit. You were thinking about me."

 _She really is back._

He grinned, "Yes ma'am. Are you sure that you are ready for the mission? You are..."

"John..." she interrupted, crossing her arms, "I know how your feel and...And I appreciate it. It makes me feel special. But I am 100 percent green all across the board, in fact, my processing power is actually more powerful than before we crashed onto Alpha Halo."

John nodded as she "sat" down on the edge of the table, letting her legs swing in the air as her color reverted to its natural blue.

'This new hologram technology is impressive.' John grinned. Impressive indeed.

"Besides." she grinned, her Avatar becoming the size of a normal human, "I can only wait so long before I get to test my body with you." she said seductively.

For one of the few times in his life John was caught totally off guard.

John actually attempted to, but ultimately failed at stifling a cough.

 _I knew she had strong feelings for me but...well I guess that answers the question._

He had feelings for as well; just not… _that_. Especially since she had once been an AI.

Now she was a true being, and she would soon have a body capable of performing all of the acts that humans could, ONI had been very forthcoming about that, something he had found amusing.

The only Human he had strong feeling for was Parisa, even though he hadn't seen her for years.

Even so, ONI knew about the bond he and Cortana shared, which was most likely that reason that they chose her to be the AI for them to assist in reaching metastability, her having someone to connect to would help in advancing AI technology.

Cortana laughed, "Looks like I can catch you off guard. That's for crashing that Banshee into the side of the _Pillar of Autumn_."

"I guess I've had that coming for several years." he chuckled.

As Cortana began to look at him longingly, the intercom buzzed, catching both of their attentions.

Cortana huffed as John immediately answered.

"This is Sierra-117 reporting."

"I'm here too." Cortana announced as she reverted back to her normal size.

"Master Chief, this is Admiral White, y'all should know that I am not into formalities very much... I need to see you, both of you, on the bridge." The voice echoed out of the famed Admiral's mouth, tinted with an accent found only in the southern parts of the former United States of America.

"Yes sir." John answered crisply as he put his MJOLNIR's helmet under one arm and left the spacious observation deck.

After traversing the numerous bulkheads and several hundred meters of the ship, garnering the stares of wonder and respect that he would never get used to no matter how many times he got them, he took one of the four trams that ran the length of the 2.9 kilometer warship.

After about a 20 second ride, he got off at the bridge area, and walked for 10 more seconds, passing officers working hard at their stations, before coming into the gigantic bridge of the most powerful ships in the UNSC fleet, aside from the remaining 5 Punic-Class Super carriers and 40 other Infinity-Classes out there.

The cavernous room was littered with displays, work stations and was dominated by the Captain's chair, where Captain Haithum was currently residing, the longtime friend of the Admiral had become almost as renowned as Captain Jacob Keyes.

John marched past the dozens of officers, who all shot up as the 8 foot tall giant went towards the two helmsmen, where a broad shouldered man in a pristine Admiral's uniform was standing, and puffing smoke from a still blazing cigar.

As he turned to face him, the 53 year old man's face stared back at him.

His white, gold encrusted cap hid his greying black hair. His face carried the look of determination and experience, but also a hint of constant humor and rebelliousness that came to define one of the men who had undoubtedly did his fair share in saving the Terrans.

His deep brown eyes held a hint of sadness in them; the man had been forced to write the infamous White Doctrine, which called for billions being forced from their homes so they could be used to buy humanity time. He remembered every single ship under his command. Every single ship and crew that was burned. He tried to tell himself it wasn't his fault, but deep down he felt he was responsible for the hundreds of thousands of casualties.

And then there was his brother.

His brother had carried on his family's long and proud tradition of being ODST's, and as such he was present at the Battles of Harvest in 2526.

He never came back.

Greg had been the odd child in his family, always breaking rules, stirring up trouble at school and even refusing to join the Marines.

However, if his records held any merit, he clearly showed himself to always be the top of his class, yet he had as many run ins with the law as he did A's on his high school report cards.

That all had changed after his brother never came home.

He immediately signed up to join the military, in training his aptitude test was off the charts. He would make an amazing ODST and Marine (he scored 95 percent accuracy on his marksmanship exam), but his talents showed where he truly belonged.

In the Navy.

After completing OCS, he was assigned to the Destroyer Rapier. The next year, he proved his competence when the entire bridge crew was killed, save for him, an event paralleling Preston Cole's at Harvest.

He took command of the ship, in a battle to cover the retreat of colonists on a remote world and while facing down a Covenant Carrier, managed to miraculously destroy the ship and save the colony singlehandedly by playing "dead" and luring the Covenant into a trap.

After that he quickly rose from Captain to a Rear Admiral in the beleaguered 9th Fleet. The fleet had taken so many casualties it was on the verge of being disbanded that he was made a Rear Admiral due to the lack of personnel.

Then the fateful battle of Sargasso, coined "The Miracle of Sargasso," took place, and the rest was history.

He had earned the title of being the most aggressive leader out there, his tactics, such as space guerilla warfare, had revolutionized warfare and had allowed the UNSC to fight the Covenant on its own terms, before it was able to go toe to toe with them.

Many Humans likened him to being a military genius, such as his 20th Century contemporaries Erwin Rommel and George Patton.

His Covenant counterparts called him what roughly translates as, "The Gatekeeper."

The name stuck.

He had gotten into many disagreements with his superiors in HIGHCOM, particularly the esteemed Lord Hood. Due to wanting things done his own way, he was almost discharged from the Navy and the UNSC entirely.

His records and sheer tactical brilliance, coupled several heroic actions. These included battles such as his holding action during the 1st Battle of Midguard, where the _Warhound_ was boarded by Covenant forces, with him fighting side by side with its Marine detachment, blasting his ivory plated M6D Magnum away at the Covenant.

It was one of the reasons he was so adored by the general public. Even though he still, "Didn't give a damn about rules that don't get anything done!"

Hence the lit cigar.

John found him to be a total polar opposite of himself. Chief had been taught to follow the rules since he was kidnapped at age 6, while the Admiral likely still had a warrant out in some county like Texas or Oklahoma; he could not see him trusting any other officer any more than him, the only exceptions being Chief Mendez, Captain Jacob and Miranda Keyes, Fleet Admiral Cole and Lord Hood.

"Ah how is it going, Master Chief?" he asked as he stuck out his hand, which John immediately took.

"Green, Sir. You wanted me to report, Sir?" John asked.

"Yes, I did." the admiral replied as he folded his arms.

"I want to know what you think about this war. We will be outnumbered basically three to one and that will be the norm for the conflict. How do you think we should go about winning this war or ending it?" He asked seriously.

"Though you probably know my personal opinion, I would simply glass them back to the Stone Age, but apparently that's frowned upon these days." He added sarcastically.

John couldn't help but let out a small grin as he answered, he had been thinking about that very same question in the observatory.

He gave his answer, remembering his early teachings from Déjà, "Sir, I believe we make an example, show them we can beat them around wherever we want to, and that we are a military superpower, not a pushover. If we win a decisive battle, their home front will be lost. You can't fight a war that your people don't want to fight. The Jedi, with their cult, will be devastated by this loss."

Gregory cocked his eyebrow as he asked, "You usually never tell me your opinions, unless you're strictly ordered to, why are you so against the Jedi?"

John thought it over, and he was surprised himself that he had said that, but it was how he truly felt.

"Sir, as we have studied the Jedi we have found their history to be an endless cycle of peace and violence brought about by absurdly strict rules. These rules make them blind and disconnected to the galaxy around them, leading to some of them to go rogue, in selfish attempts to control others, or in some cases to clearly attempt to bring about peace. Albeit in ways that are sometimes harsh, but their goals are sound. These are merely reactions to the Jedi's backward methods." He paused for a second to think over what he was saying.

"These Jedi are nothing but a cult. The fact that the Republic wields them in a way that they empower the Republic, and how they allow themselves to be wielded in such a way, show how flawed they are."

The Admiral clearly agreed with him as he nodded, "Couldn't have said it better myself. You should relax while you can; we have two more days until we reach SDB5. You're more than able to crush these Jedi nutcase xenos easily, just try to not make too much of a mess. This ship was just cleaned a week ago."

 _ **UNSC GUARDIAN Sensor Station 230**_

Sitting in the middle of deep space was one hell of a boring job. Being cooped up in a minuscule station, no bigger than the ISS museum currently over Earth, didn't help.

The stations didn't need to be manned really. The crew was only a failsafe if the automated systems had failed to clean the data logs.

Though the Republic had been told of the location of Earth when contact was officially made and they did know where several other inner colonies and Reach was, most of the UN was unknown to the Republic, as such the Cole Protocol still took effect. Both the UEG and Sangheilli led Union of Species had cut contact with the Greater Galaxy for the most part, albeit with some highly lucrative trade on the side. Everyone knew they had to do their part in keeping a secret.

The century old saying, "Loose lips sink ships" came to mind.

One sensor officer was dozing off in his chair as his advanced and costly sensors detected nothing, the threat board was clean, but it wouldn't be for much longer.

The range of the titanic sensor was 1000 light years, and when coupled with the other 500 or so similar stations, the entire frontier of the UEG was watched at all times, essentially a good chunk of the Orion arm of the galaxy.

With the UNSC standing at DEFCON 2 (and teetering on the edge of DEFCON 1), the Guardian sensor net was on a full state of alert for the expected Republic fleet reported to be launching.

And that fleet was only a small gust of the tornado.

So when the threat board lit up like the skies of the UEG on Victory Day to celebrate the end of the Covenant War, the man at his station immediately sat up and called to his officer as the AI came to life at its pedestal.

"Sir, we have incoming Tangos, the Grid is hot. Repeat, the grid is hot!"

The AI immediately patched him through to HIGHCOM; the slipspace communicator would take a few minutes to arrive, giving them at least 2 hours of warning at the least.

"It appears to be the fleet reported at Taris; profiles read as… 250 plus contacts. 10 India Class Heavies, 45 Victor Class Mediums, 70 Raven Class Mediums, 100 Alpha Class Lights, and 30 Auxiliaries."

As the report of the direction of the fleet came through the man nodded, "Vector is confirmed, Alpha Rendara system."

 _ **Strategic Deployment Base Five**_

 _ **Alpha Rendara System**_

Lance Corporal Fredrik LeClerc followed the line of Marines heading towards the armory.

"So the Republic is going on the offensive, huh," Grumbled his fellow squad member, Rance Aurbach, as they went to the armory, filled to the brim with Marines arming themselves as fast as possible.

Fredrik, a 23 year old from the Inner Colony world of Morellia in the Beta Durandal system, had joined the Corps for the fact that he, like many other men and women his age, grew up in the latter half of the Great War had developed a strong sense of duty for Humanity and as a result of swelling nationalistic pride among the youth that had skyrocketed after the discovery of the rest of the galactic civilizations. After he finished his service, all he wanted to do was finish college and get his masters in linguistics so he could work for ONI.

Just like everyone else on the station, he was on the edge of his bunk awaiting the impending Republic offensive.

He and every other Terran had been excited about the discovery of the rest of the Galaxy, but that had took a 180 degree turn once the general public caught wind of the Republic's scheme. Now the Republic was going to attempt to occupy the Orion arm of the galaxy.

The UNSC weren't about to allow that to happen.

The 77 UNSC ships already stationed at the base had grown to 80, a decent number. When he found out that the last arrival was none other than the _Warhound_ itself, they became ecstatic.

That only became a second thought when the Master Chief himself had come aboard the station; escorting Admiral White to his meeting with General Hudong. Fredrik had been one of the lucky bastards to actually get to see him when everyone had clamored to fill the landing bay.

Here he was, an actual honest to god Spartan!

He had walked in sync next to the Admiral as they strode through the hangar.

He looked exactly the same as the vids that poured

Power had radiated from the man, and though he did have his helmet on he had almost received a dose of confidence himself just from the Master Chief.

There was no way they could lose this battle now.

He spent the next 3 minutes putting on his armor, piece by piece, until he was finished, the titanium and ceramic armor plates were in place and the carbon fibers in the suit formed around his body to mimic his movements and amplify them by God knows how much.

After he finished putting on his armor, he began to put on the most complicated part of assembling the armor, placing the double fist sized shield generator on his back plate. It could only be described as a stubby armed penguin trying to scratch its back.

The armor came to life as the color shifted to the traditional tan with a hint of bronze, accented by the shiny sheen of the reactive ablative coat, meant to disperse energy weapons fire. He donned his helmet atop his head as the silver visor depolarized and the HUD came to life, displaying a multitude of readouts across the sides.

"How long do you reckon this war is gonna last?" Rance asked, grabbing his aging M6 Pistol and his BRM Gauss Rifle. Rance was one of the Squad's marksmen, yet he still grabbed the venerable M90 Shotgun all the same.

Fredrik did the same as he grabbed his M6 and his MA6 and a M90, strapping the latter unto his back as the magnetic plate held it in, two frags, a flash bang and about 400 rounds for his MA6 in 12 ammunition strips.

He loaded a 13th strip into the assault rifle, quickly pressed the chamber release on the right side of the butt, and, as the very last inch and a half of the butt of the weapon slid down to reveal the three barrels, he loaded in the tri sided ammo strip, pressed a small button on the plastic strip, and tossed it away. His counter lit up blue, displaying 36, more than enough firepower to kill a man.

All of this was done in around four seconds.

Spartans could do it in less than two.

He clicked the safety on as he attached his weapon to his back.

He and Rance walked over to the rest of the members of the Fourth squad of 6th Platoon of the Battalion of Marines garrisoning the station.

The leader of the squad, Sergeant Rawlings, waved them over as his scar he received from the last battle of Earth showed in the light as spoke.

"LeClerc, Aurbach. We are to remain here on standby until we receive our orders."

"Great," mumbled Frank, the squad Machine Gunner as he hefted his MGS-953 SAW.

"How long will this last?" Mumbled Ally, the squad's sniper, who was trading in her rifle for an AA-22 as it would be much more useful in the tight corridors of the station.

Just then, as if on cue, the loudspeakers came on and the klaxons started to blare

" _Attention! Attention! Attention!_ "

The 900 Marines present on the station snapped their heads up.

" _A Republic fleet has just jumped into the system. All hands man your battle stations! I Repeat, all hands man your battle stations! Prepare for hostile action!"_

 _ **UN Colony World**_

 _ **Ceina**_

 _ **Aplha Rendara System**_

 _ **UNSC JOINT FORCES BASE**_

Sergeant James Taylor muttered to himself as the sirens blared into his ears, realizing he wasn't in some drill.

The arid world was about to come under attack.

The octagon shaped base was host to ten thousand active Army and Marines and two armored companies. A few other bases similar to his existed elsewhere on the world, but were located near the larger cities on the other side of the planet.

Taylor hustled to his Grizzly II MBT parked in one of the vehicle bays of the base. He jumped into the hatch near the side and used his neural uplink to activate the 60 ton beast, assuming his role as the commander and gunner of the two crew death delivering machine.

Its controls lit up as the viewscreen switched on to give him a 360 degree view, the weapon systems came online one by one until finally the Gauss cannon came to life, all systems hot.

The side hatch opened as his driver, Peter Summers, a veteran of the Covenant war like himself, turned on his viewscreen and ignited the engine, which roared like a Forseti lion.

"You ready for this?" Taylor asked as he flipped the last switches that would allow him to function unhindered.

"Let's make em' eat the curb." Summers responded enthusiastically as he slammed the engine forward, falling into line with the rest of the armored column. Taylor and Summers were greeted with the sight of Pelicans taking off from their landing pads, bristling with weapons and filled to the brim with men. Wombat UCAVs swarmed into the sky alongside the multitude of fixed winged aircraft the UNSC fielded, ready to pounce on their unsuspecting Republic prey at a moment's notice.

It was a far cry from what the UNSC had been just 8 years ago.

 _ **UNSC Warhound**_

"Sir the enemy fleet has just jumped in system. Our systems are registering over 250 tangos. They jumped in near the 5th planet of the system and are currently accelerating towards us," the radar operator reported to the AI, MacArthur, whose avatar was more of less a perfect copy of the famed WWII American General.

MacArthur confirmed the report and turned to Admiral White as the call to action rang throughout the ship.

"Range?" he simply asked.

"Two million miles and closing." MacArthur replied, "They'll be in effective range of our pulse lasers at one million miles."

"Have the fleet form up around us in standard defensive posture; keep us between the base and the Republic fleet and launch our fighters, but have them stay in reserve for now. I want our bombers to remain in their hangars and to wait for my command," White took a deep breath in and sighed.

"All weapons charge to maximum power. Bring our acceleration at 120 Gs towards the enemy fleet. While they try to bridge the gap and come into their effective firing range, we'll be able to fire on them with impunity. Concentrated pulse laser fire should do the trick."

"Plus taking them by surprise with our MACs will be better."

The Master Chief walked onto the bridge.

"Sir," John crisply saluted, loaded up with an MA6 and a Spartan Laser, both magnetically affixed to his back.

The Admiral returned the favor, "Master Chief, I don't have a job for you right now. The bastards are most likely going to attempt to board the station and get their whitie tightie asses on the ground. However as much as I know you want to be in the thick of it I need you to..."

MacArthur flashed into existence in front of Admiral White, "Sir, we have an incoming message from the Republic flagship, the _Resolute_ , it appears to be Admiral Tarkin, shall we respond?"

"Tarkin, eh?" Admiral White muttered under his breath.

"Alright, put him on, I want to see what this monkey wants, face-to-face," White commanded as he turned to face the viewscreen, the image of a Republic Admiral in a pristine grey uniform snapped onto the screen.

 _ **RNS Resolute**_

Immediately after the fleet left hyperspace, the bridge of the _Resolute_ went into overdrive as the officers and the crewmembers scrambled to deliver the status of their enemies.

The fleet had exited hyperspace near a vomit colored gas giant and moved towards the UNSC base which came onto the scanners as the fleet moved away from the slight interference of the gas giant.

Aayla stood next to the Admiral, along with Shaak Ti and Jax, the Admiral giving orders for the fleet to form into two large wedges as the UNSC fleet came onto the scanners.

The operator called out from his post in the pit of the bridge, "Admiral we have 80 enemy ships. They seem to be moving to intercept us!"

"Don't they realize we outnumber them three to one?" Tarkin mumbled to no one as he turned to the closest officer, "Display their formation on screen."

Aayla looked in childlike awe at the holo screen as the profiles of 80 UNSC ships came onto the screen.

Unlike ships of the Republic or the CIS, the UNSC warships seemed to be built for one thing and one thing only, high intensity combat.

They had few attractive lines, and with occasional boxy looks some of them looked almost ugly, yet they all had a look of a true weapon of war, they looked rugged and optimized for war, any attractive lines were by accident as they looked more for getting the job done than looking good in parades. She was aware of some of their ship's profiles, which seemed to be their smaller warships, but their larger warships were massive beasts of armor and weapons.

Five of their large battlecruiser analogs were as large as the Imperators, and though they seemed to be a more streamlined look than the other smaller cruiser analogs which were the size of Venators, but these were overshadowed by four massive ships which were easily 3,000 meters long that intelligence believed to be carriers, however unlike the carriers they were used to these were just as capable if not more capable of charging into heavy combat by themselves.

But it was one ship that was clearly stood out from all of them.

It wasnt the largest vessel in the fleet, about several hundred meters shorted than their carriers, but unlike the carriers it was covered in nothing but armor and weapons ports and looked downright menacing. Its position in the middle of the UNSC's three diminsional pyramid formation clearly made it seem like the flagship.

 _"_ My lord that thing is huge." Aayla mumbled as the ships came closer to each other.

The UNSC base came into view, and it was undoubtedly ugly, with large modules attatched together and formed around a large central module that could easily fit an Acclamator , and behind it came the UN colony world.

It seemed to be an arid world, with vast praries and large dry grasslands and a few bodies of water which came to view as the opitcs and telescopes zoomed in.

It was clear that the world was still developing, evident in the fact that the poles were covered in far more ice than a planet in the orbit of a class M star would have, which pointed to one thing.

"It seems our reports were true that the UN is terraforming this world. It still amazes me how they are able to it do so quickly."

If showed any sign of questioning his orders to attack this place then he didnt show it.

"Hail that lead ship." Wilhuff simply commented as his eyes danced over the reading from the UNSC fleet.

Aayala couldnt help but notice that they had unusually low power readings, some would say it was due to them being underpowered but something told her they were able to mask their energy signatures, something that would give them an advantage as an opponent would not be able to read if they were preparing to fire or not.

"Lead ship is connecting, establishing feed." the comms officer called from his position in the pit.

Aayla, Shaak, Wilhuff and the rest of the port side bridge crew looked at the screen, eyes glued to it like a youngling seeing a holocartoon.

The bridge of the UNSC dreadnaught was surprisingly small, only about as large as those typically found on a cruiser. Its dull grey interior was offset the myriad of holographic screens and crew at their stations, yet none of it seemed out of place. That something she couldn't help but notice was how few there were, only about thirty, whereas bridges of the Venator require 60 apiece.

Standing in the center of the screen was a surprisingly muscular and broad shouldered man with an slightly olive skinned face which had a scar on his left cheek. The man wore a perpetual scowl like a mask and a white uniform which was far more decorative than those of the Republic, flowing with medals and ribbons. On top of his head perched a white cap with a short black bill that had the emblem of the UNSC on it with its unique bird of prey clutching the Terran homeworld, Earth, in its talons and its wings outstretched, incrusted in gold.

The man also had a large pistol holstered on his side, but the man's brown eyes held both a mix of experience and a glare that could kill.

Behind him in what was most likely a captain's chair sat a man with darker skin and wore a less ornamental uniform, he wore a look of cool contemplation but she saw the burning hatred in his eyes too.

Stranger still, was the figure that stood behind the right of the UNSC admiral.

The figure was massive, and it was covered in advanced and powerful green armor with a helmet and full golden reflective visor that concealed its face.

She could sense something about it but she could not place...

She internally gasped

" _Wait when reading about the Covenant it was mentioned that there was a group of soldiers that were powerful enough to stop whole Covenant armies alone, Supersoldiers they called them, even the Sangheilli mentioned them, particularly one named the Master Chief that almost single handedly ended the war himself. Could this be one of those Supersoldiers?"_ She thought to herself.

Wilhuff Tarkin spoke up.

"I am Admiral Wilhuff Tarkin of the Republic Fleet. I, under orders of the Chancellor of the Republic and the Senate, am to subdue you and your token force of outdated vessels. I have come to bring you the message that the Republic will not stand lightly with the UEG's meddling with galactic affairs any longer. You have made yourself an enemy of the Galaxy and..."

The UNSC admiral cut him off.

"Listen here you _asshole_ , The UEG can take whatever actions and sides it wants as a means preservation of itself. We are a _sovereign_ nation. You have started the last two wars, the Clone Wars and this one. You are under the rule of a dictator and don't even admit it. You and the Jedi start more conflicts than finish them and that you believe you can set yourselves up as the policemen of the galaxy and enforce your will on others. Your presence in this system is declared an act of war, but we have been expecting you here for days now. Hell! We knew when your fleet launched from Taris the moment it entered Hyperspace, your security is a wet paper bag you know, and _us_? We are the hot knife stabbing through. However, since I'm feeling merciful today, I'll let you off with a warning, you leave now and I'll start killing you when you're back at Taris."

"You are outnumbered three to one." Tarkin smugly boasted, "There's simply no chance that you'll win."

"Like that matters." The man countered, "We will show you how real war is fought, and when it is over your armies will burn, your slave soldiers will be set free and the Republic will be in shambles. This is your final warning."

The screen cut out.

"Arrogant chap, isn't he?" Jax noted, failing to realize the irony in his statement.

Tarkin turned to the crew, "That's it then. All ships close to engage. Have all fighters prepare to launch."

He turned to Aayla, "I may not be able to sense it through the force, but I know that this will be a difficult battle."

 _ **UNSC Warhound**_

"All weapons charged, MAC capacitors throughout the fleet are ready, our Energy Projectors are charged and the Particle Cannons are at 100 percent. We are nearing optimal range of our MAC systems at 180,000 kilometers, our targeting systems will have a lock in fifteen seconds, all small craft are away and have taken up a flanking position in orbit of the moon, we're holding them in reserve for now, and they're at your command." Captain Haithum reported as Gregory tapped his foot in impatience.

"Sir you were saying that my mission would be..." John asked, reminding the Admiral.

"Right, sorry for the wait Master Chief. You saw those Jedi and the Admiral correct? Odds are one of them will most likely be on the ship throughout the battle as an observer for that Admiral. After we duke it out ship to ship, I want you to board that flagship and attempt to take that Admiral prisoner, or at the very least kill one some of those Jedi. It would go a long way in demoralizing them, not to mention the intel that ONI will _extract_ from them."

The Spartan II Commando nodded as he replied simply, "You need me to use a Booster Frame?"

"Yes, we have a couple onboard just for you Spartans, and It would be perfect if you need to blast your way in there."

"Sir!" MacArthur called out as the AI's color flashed to red for a second, "The enemy is in range and we have a positive lock throughout the fleet."

Admiral White gave out an order that would become infamous in history.

"Fire!"


	6. Stuck

_**Geonosis, Geonosis System**_

 _Primary Droid Foundry, Stalgasin Hive, E'Y-Akh Desert_

Boss held his hand up, "Let's form up Deltas!"

"Forming up." Sev, Fixer, and Scorch answered.

Delta Squad fell into a loose square as the holoprojector spring into life.

"Three-Eight, your squad's mission is to demolish this factory." A schematic of the factory was uploaded to their HUDs.

"You should be able to get by, undetected, using your new armor. Plant the explosives, slice everything off of their databases, and head to extraction. Good luck Commandos." The projector cut off.

"As if we need it." Sev scoffed.

"Maybe you'll get more kills this time. How many bugs you squash last time you were here in Geonosis?" Scorch said.

"More than you did." Sev coldly replied.

"Cut the chatter, this is a stealth mission, not a day hooked into the sims on Kamino." Fixer stated as he sliced open a nearby access hatch.

Delta Squad slid in the wide open hole, one at a time. Boss's boots produced a loud thud after he met the metal grating.

"Could you do that louder the next time we're on a stealth mission? You're lucky the next patrol is five minutes away." Scorch quipped as he slid down.

Boss's response was cut short by the commlink activating.

"Deltas, your extraction point has been updated." Once again, a map popped into the Commandos' HUDs. "You are to extract from the top of the spire at these points. A stealth ship will be arriving there soon. You'll have 50 minutes until it departs. Don't be late."

"Affirmative, Advisor." Boss replied, still running down the narrow access hallway. His eyes scanned the shadowy crevasses of the cavern turned hall. Boss, and then the rest of his squad slid to a halt.

'Must've been my imagination,' Boss thought to himself, continuing along. The rest of his team didn't so much as question his stop.

Delta Squad made their way down the passage, quicker, quieter and more carefully than they had when they first made their entrance. They moved fast and efficiently, yet were like shadows in the night.

At the end of the corridor, they emerged into a huge cavern, filled with hundreds of catwalks, conveyor belts, heavy machines, and Geonosians.

Boss activated his thermal visor, locating the warmest part of the area to pinpoint the location of the database and marking it on his brothers' HUDs.

"3000 meters to there? Really?" Scorch moaned.

"Better get climbing then." Sev replied.

 _ **Danderone, Toglada System**_

 _ **Republic Perimeter Defenses, Silver City**_

CT-23-4512 'Jastor' prowled the terrain surrounding the Silver City of Danderone through his trench electrobinoculars.

'That Seppie arty must've moved again.' He thought to himself.

As if on cue, he heard the whistle of the droid artillery about to blow his position into smithereens. Instinctively Jastor grabbed his electrobinoculars and ran into the underground opening that led into the small duracrete reinforced dugout.

Suddenly, it felt as if the planet was collapsing around him. For ten solid minutes, he felt something twenty times worse than an earthquake, yet luck, or some other unseen force saved his dugout from near certain annihilation. After regaining his bearings, Jastor stumbled out of the dugout, lifted his helmet off, and vomited onto the bottom of the trench.

He wicked away the vomit with his plastoid alloy covered arm and set up his electrobinoculars once again.

'There you are, you kriffing bastards.' He cursed in his head after spotting the advancing droid columns. He lifted his wrist up to activate his commlink, however, none of his broadcasts were making it through to his commanders. Without even packing up his scouting equipment, he immediately ran towards the nearest forward command post.

His vision was quickly filled with the destruction caused by the Seppie arty. If he didn't know any better, he'd think his entire sector was wiped out. Jastor continued on through the various craters and trench segments until he reached the forward command post (~2-3 kilometers away from the actual frontline), located in a bunker a few meters underground. Jastor's jog slowed into a shuffle as he tried to pass the officers and other personnel circulating through the cramped space.

Jastor passed by the multiple command rooms and caught snippets of the stressful conversations between officers on the ground and other officers on the ground, or officers on the ground and officers in space.

"We need more shells with the next resupply; our AV-7s can't contest their advances…"

"All our recon crafts are destroyed or inoperable, but the fleet is still engaging…"

"I know your division is at half-strength, we need more reserves…"

"The men aren't getting enough nutrition, cut the solids if you have to and give us paste…"

"Repeat that! So the _Vindication_ can't hit the Seppies? Grid Leth-26? I thought you said…"

Jastor made his way to his commanding officer.

"General Axel, Sir!"

"At ease trooper, what is it?"

"The Seps are advancing on this sector. Armor and infantry, about 20 clicks away." Jastor gave the coordinates to the General.

"They must've been building up for weeks." General Axel commented on his now updating command table before turning to his staff, "You! Order the 3321st Artillery Battalion to use up their shell allowance on these areas! You! See to it that we rotate fresh supplies and troops into the front!"

General Axel turned to Jastor, "Now, you get back to the front, we need every trooper we can get."

"Yes sir!" Jastor quickly saluted.

He immediately grimaced once he left the command center. The odds he'd survive this battle were low, and the odds he'd last the week were even lower. Things had been grim ever since the Republic stepped foot on the planet. After brushing away initial resistance in space and on the ground, the huge Republic fleet was matched by a Confederate fleet, in fact, they were still duking it out amongst the stars. The strike teams inserted into the droid foundries were eliminated, and now, months later, Jastor was slogging it out on the muddy, ashy, and macabre battlefield alongside his brothers.

He returned to the forward positions, now slightly more organized, jumping into his unit's main trench.

"Jastor, I thought you bit the dust when they took a headcount." Jastor fist bumped his long time squadmate, Voight.

"You know how stubborn I am Voight. You got any rockets left for the PLEX?"

"Three, but I'm all out of grenades."

"I still got 10 charge packs for my FifteenX, but I'm almost out of tibanna." Jastor lied onto the soft wall of the trench, using it as support, "I see a hun- No, a thousand clankers, a hundred supers, plus armor in our area alone. I don't think our platoon has the firepower to take out that kind of assault."

Jastor heard the impact, then, 'WHRRRT'.

"What in the nine Corellian hells?" Jastor said, ducking.

"INCOMING!" Jastor heard one of his platoon members scream out, probably Sarge.

A flurry of gun fire past over the clones' heads.

"Since when did the Sepps use slugthrowers?!" Voight shouted, bracing against the wall of the trench.

Jastor glanced over the trench with his macrobinoculars activated over his visor, "Kriff." He said ducking down again before the fire started again, "Those aren't clankers; they're... Humans."

"What do you mean?!" Voight demanded.

"What do you think I mean? Those are meatbags like us!" Jastor yelled back, muffled by the now active frontline. Unusual for the CIS to use flesh soldiers, but not unheard of. Jastor again heard the sound of artillery, this time being fired from both sides.

"RETURN FIRE!" They heard over the radio.

Voight hoisted his PLEX launcher over the trench.

'And so it begins.' Jastor thought.


	7. Victory Or Death

**That last chapter was just filler to get something out there, I was really busy in school and that's sadly all I managed to write out.**

 **Without further ado, the next chapter.**

 _ **RNS Resolute**_

 _ **"**_ Sir, we will be in optimal extended range for our Heavy Turbo Lasers at 80,000 kilometers in two minutes and thirty seconds." The weapons officer reported as Tarkin nodded.

Technically speaking, the DBY Heavy turrets could attack targets much further out, but the fact that the targeting computers were not designed to establish positive locks that far away (Damn those cost cutting bishwags employed at KDY) and they took a lot longer to destroy enemy warships, even when used at full power. Even then, energy only dissipated with distance, and turbolaser bolts are slow.

Because of these facts, most warships of the galaxy used massed weapon strikes to destroy opponents, with a combination of heavy turbo lasers and lighter weapons to overwhelm shields. It was not common practice to engage at long range, to do so would mean all power would need to be shunted to the turbo lasers; though they would be far more powerful, they drew power away from other critical sections of the ship to fire. With longer ranges added in, accuracy counted much more (But any crewman worth his credits could manually target them within a few volleys). Although at ranges like these, it was not unheard of for small, maneuverable crafts to be able to dodge blaster cannons.

"Sir! Energy levels in the UNSC Fleet are skyrocketing. They are about to fire!" a bridge officer screeched.

"From this range!? How can they hit us from that far away!?" Tarkin demanded.

"Enemy ships firing!"

Aayla looked on the holoscreen to see energy coalesce for a split second on the bows of the UNSC ships, some with one ball of energy and others with several, the dreadnaught with four; before a yellow streak of light shot out from the enemy ships.

"127 large projectiles incoming in six seconds! " The sensor officer screamed as Tarkin shouted.

"Go evasive…"

The Admiral didn't get to finish his sentence as the MAC rounds thrashed the Republic fleet.

The result of 600 and 900 ton tungsten slugs slamming into the fleet at 1/10th the speed of light was catastrophic.

The Acclamators that got hit had had their hulls gutted by the MAC rounds, their shields seemingly doing little to stop the carnage; their broken and shattered triangular hulls were launched into the void of space to become a scrapper's next paycheck.

The Victory's hardly did any better, some had their shields drained, others were hit multiple times; the bridge section sheared off, reactor cores pierced and detonated, one was split in two.

The larger star destroyers were shown to be superior to their screens and escorts, taking two or so direct hits to take down the shields, although it seemed that they were intentionally singled out as several simply received a barrage of three or even four slugs, leaving seven Venators destroyed outright, three more were so badly damaged they were in need of being evacuated, and 2 of the Imperators destroyed.

Even the _Resolute_ was hit by one round which slammed into the ship with such force that the shields dropped to a dangerously low 10 percent and shook with such force that everyone was thrown to the floor, warning klaxons blaring.

"What in the Nine Corellian Hells did they hit us with?" Tarkin got up as Aayla helped Shaak Ti off of the deck.

The weapons officer climbed back into his seat, strapped his crash webbing on and sighed.

"S-Sir, it appears we were hit b-by an advanced mass driver of sorts." He sputtered out

Tarkin cursed, "What are the casualties?"

"By the Force..." The officer muttered, "We lost 42 ships in that attack sir. 21 Acclamator Assault ships, 12 Victory Cruisers, 7 Venators, and 2 Imperators were lost, most of them with all hands."

At that, Aayla felt the lives of those lost through the force, thousands upon thousands of miserable souls dying.

This is the real war they had been talking about.

A comms officer spoke up, "Admiral, we're receiving distress calls from some of the disabled ships, shall we dispatch rescue shuttles?"

"No, that will impede our progress, leave them. We need those shuttles for boarding actions."

"But-"

"Leave them!"

"Yes Admiral."

"Now, have all ships shunt all available power to their heavy turbo lasers and bolster their forward particle shields, have them shut off their ray shields, it seems that these primitives haven't the knowledge to make energy weapons." Tarkin tried to regain some of his crew's confidence, and perhaps some of his own.

"Aye aye sir." The officers promptly responded as a wave of ARC-170's shot by the twisted metal scrap heap that was once the Venator Star Destroyer _Basilisk_ , its momentum not being enough to keep it in pace with the still accelerating fleet, breaking up with secondary explosions ripping through its interior.

Tarkin simply grunted, unaffected by the macabre scene of scrap and crewmen floating outside the bridge's windows, "Range?"

"145,000 kilometers and closing."

Aayla could sense the panic and fear tingeing the crew's thoughts, pushed away by their military training and the ceaseless drills done in preparation for the operation.

Looking out the bridge window, she realized she had become used to being able to see the starships opposing you in battle. Here, against the glistening backdrop of space, there were no signs that there was someone trying to kill you at all. The battle, for now, was taking place far out of range, and the Republic had yet to get a shot in.

Then as she was looking out at the location of the UNSC fleet, the force warned her of yet more danger.

"Admiral, radiation levels in the fleet spiking!"

"By the Force, do those barbarians intend to use nuclear weapons on us?"

Suddenly six fine bluish beams of energy reached out at the leading ships of the fleet.

Two of the beams struck one of the leading Imperators, the _Casbonore._

The first beam which was traveling at least half the speed of light hit slammed into the _Casbonore_ , immediately depleting its already weakened shields, one of the shield domes blowing out from the stress.

That left the second beam, which hit a second later, slicing into the ship's hull, burning through armor in split seconds going clean through, the rear engine block exploding outward, the reactor having gone critical, blowing the mighty warship into smithereens.

Before the initial shock had settled into their minds, four other beams struck three other ships.

Two sliced through a Venator and the others a Victory and an Acclamator, all of them either violently detonating, or in the case of the Venator, lethal radiation from the beam immediately killing all on board, turning the ship into an gargantuan paper weight.

 _ **UNSC Warhound**_

"Four more kills, Energy Projectors on the _Warhound_ and the carriers are recharging and will be ready to fire again in five minutes." MacArthur listed off as Gregory began to strategize his next move.

He had to keep out of a close range fight with them, but at the speed at which the two fleets were closing in on each other, it would be impossible, he would have to get off at least one more MAC salvo. Even if he did, the Republic would return fire at a much faster rate than his slower, but more accurate and powerful Particle Cannons could.

After the next MAC salvo, he would split the fleet up into two groups, one going "up" on the Y-axis above the Republic fleet and one below, running a gauntlet of fire with MACs, missiles, and other weapons.

The two fleets, if they kept up their projected courses, would turn back around on each other to try and fire on their opponent's rear, but it all depended on who could do it first.

But due to the nature of the Republic's main weapons, his fleet would be under fire almost immediately after, meaning he couldn't engage while turning, unless at a longer range.

However he knew the Republic would use the opportunity to engage the station as it would be defenseless save for the fighters and its own weapons for the time it took for him to double back.

He saw a solution however.

He would use the fighters and bombers to harass the Republic fleet to the point to where he would then use the fourth primary planet of the system, a large blue Gas giant called T7, which he was approaching, to slingshot himself around to where he could have a clear shot at the Republic no matter where they were, unless they made the mistake of following him, which was what he wanted them to do anyway.

The more he spread them apart, the easier it was for him to pick apart the fleet and make up for his numbers.

He just had to do enough damage.

"MAC guns at 70 percent charge. Ready to fire in ten seconds."

 _ **Resolute**_

The decks of the ship shook. Its engines were pushed to the redline, as it closed the distance to those responsible for the deaths of thousands of Republic sailors and troopers.

"It was some sort of fine particle beam, travelling at half the speed of light." A crewman called to Tarkin.

"What is its weakness?" He asked, staring blankly at the fleet before him. Tarkin still wasn't impressed. He had been hardened by his childhood, and he was a decorated Republic Admiral, having been recently promoted in the leading up to this operation. Failure was not an option for Tarkin. The heavy turrets charged to their full power. They rotated to meet the coming UNSC fleet, which was now a gathering of twinkling lights 81,000 kilometers away.

"Yes sir, simply due to the nature of those weapons, it takes a long time and a large amount of power to charge up and fire. As they appear to only be on the largest ships, they are not our main threat."

"Our turbo lasers are almost within range and will be ready to fire in ten seconds." The captain called off.

Tarkin clenched his fist, "Have the fleet fire all at once in concentrated volleys."

"Entering range in seven, six- the enemy fleet is firing!"

Again, 127 MAC slugs slammed into the fleet, taking even more out of the fight in fantastic displays of raw, unadulterated kinetic energy.

However, thanks to Tarkin's orders to focus the particle shields to the front, only 32 ships, 18 Acclamators, 10 Victorys and four Venators were destroyed, leaving the fleet's strength at 147 ships.

Tarkin finally lost his cool and calm composer, evident as Aayla felt raw anger and hate brew up in his mind.

"Fire!" Tarkin spat, throwing his fist down onto one of the bridge's outcroppings.

Hundreds of large bright bolts of green and blue energy, plasma, and light shot out from the Republic fleet.

It took nearly four seconds to hit the UNSC fleet, which had split into two groups of 40 ships apiece just before impact.

Though some of the volleys missed due to this, the overwhelming majority of the bolts hit.

The UNSC's shields, unlike those of the rest of the galaxy, were believed to be a combination of ray and particle shields, somehow using hot and cold plasma, arranged in thousands of connecting octagonal sections in an oval spheroid shape around the vessel. They were more powerful than those of the Republic. That was for sure, built to take hits from Covenant weapons.

But they could only withstand so much power.

Each turbo laser bolt carried at least a hundred megatons of power, and the shields of the UNSC vessels flared brilliant gold as they struck.

They only held out for so long as ships began to lose their shielding and were pounded by the others.

The frigates and destroyers took most of the damage, their shields gave out faster.

Ten frigates exploded as the bolts pounded through the thick and durable armor, devastating the interior of the ships.

The heavier destroyers fared better, their thicker armor lasting longer, but still five destroyers either were holed, spun out of formation belching flame or shattered.

The cruisers and capitol ships were all intact, save for a Marathon who fell victim to two of the surviving, and vengeful, Imperators. Both focused all their heavy turbo lasers at it. Its center was blown open by over forty direct hits after its shields failed. Secondary explosions cascaded from it as it spun away on a wayward coarse, escape pods hastily launching from it.

The crew of the ship cheered as the next volley began to charge.

Then the UNSC fired back.

Hundreds of red bolts came from their fleet, which were longer than turbo laser bolts. The red beams slammed into the fleet with terra joules of power.

Tarkin's ship shook, not from an impact, but from a stressed generator.

The enemy was concentrating its fire on only a few ships at a time, which left eight more ships, this time three Venators, two Victorys and the fourth Imperator nothing more than burnt and twisted hulks.

The eighth ship, another Acclamator, had fallen prey to the UNSC flagship, no less than 34 of those weapons brought down its shields and turned its bridge and engine block to scrap.

The enemy flagship was a monster.

It would have to be taken down to win the battle.

"Next salvo firing now!" The weapons officer announced.

The fleet returned fire again, the battle was turning into a slugfest, the two sides trading punches until one was left standing.

After the wave of green bolts hit the UNSC fleet, now separated into two groups with one passing over the fleet and the other below, 12 more UNSC ships were killed, turning into fireballs or charred husks.

Tarkin cursed at the simple design of the Venators, Victorys and Imperators, the fleet passing below his was only receiving a couple of volleys, mostly from the Acclamators, due to the firing arcs of their guns.

"Have the fleet spin on their axis to bring their weapons to bear on both clusters. And ready the fleet to fire all of their Concussion missiles at once. We will overwhelm these inferiors." Tarkin commanded.

The weapon's officer carried out his orders in a sense of wonder.

It was strange for that many concussion missiles to be fired at once in battle.

It would bring the end of this bloody battle to fruition faster.

 _ **Warhound**_

"Dammit we can't get this close to them! They are chewing us apart!" Admiral White cursed. He slammed his fist down onto one of the computer stations while another volley slammed into the unshielded side of his Warlock Battlecruiser, _Edge of Darkness_.It began to shudder as turbo lasers began to eat away at its thick armor belt. To prevent one side from taking too much damage, the 1502 meter warship rotated to even out the effects, like a piece of corn

The enemy fleet was wisely orienting itself to bring its full firepower to fire on him.

Both fleets would soon be exchanging broadsides.

But when the Republic was fully orientated, things would get nasty.

His fleet sent off another full volley of Particle Cannon pulses which did take another two Republic ships down, but as they fired slower the Republic would soon fire back.

"VAMPIRE! VAMPIRE! Missiles inbound!" An ensign announced, with nearly five hundred missiles swarming towards the beleaguered UNSC fleet.

Admiral White cocked his eyebrows at the small number of missiles they had fired, as well as how much slower they were than his own Archers, which had just achieved their own lock on.

Little did the Republic know, but the UNSC ships were over-equipped to say the least in dealing with such a threat. Though they had little use during the Human-Covenant war due to the nature of the Covenant's technology, they still knew how deadly missiles could be, even the Covenant did, as their ships were also equipped with highly advanced, highly effective point defense.

As the missiles neared their targets, each target receiving at most a dozen missiles apiece, the already activated CIWS Point Defense Turrets came online and, in under a second, swung around almost violently and began tracking its targets, aided by the shipboard AI.

Once the missiles closed the distance to 50 miles out (a hair's breadth away in space), mere seconds away from hitting their targets, each dual turreted cannon began spitting out 50mm/70mm High Explosive Incendiary, Armor Piercing, and Shrapnel rounds at a rate of 4,500 rounds a minute with pin point accuracy, filling the space around the UNSC vessels with thousands of tiny explosions as the rounds either scored direct hits, shattering the missiles, or the exploding flak casing of the shells took them out.

As fast as it began it was over, the CIWS stopped firing and the Republic missiles were gone, not one made it to their targets.

"No loses sir." Captain Haithum informed Gregory as another of his Cruisers took a beating from a broadside of laser fire.

"Fire ALL of our Archers, pods A through Z, then have the fleet follow suite. Line up our ships for another MAC barrage." He snarled. With a fiery passion for destruction, a smirk creeped up the side of his lips. "Haithum."

"Yes sir?"

"Prep some Shivas. Give them a warm gift basket." It had been a long time since he's been allowed to bring those out.

Haithum nodded and smiled a little as well, "Yes sir!"

 _ **Resolute**_

"Not one made it through?" Tarkin asked as the ship vibrated again from another volley of its cannons.

"No sir, not one. The point defenses on those ships are something out of a fighter jockey's nightmare. They're quick. They're very rapid fire cannons that have unheard of accuracy. They took down our missiles in under two seconds." An officer informed him.

Tarkin growled; he had expended most of his fleet's missiles in an attempt to overwhelm the UNSC defenses to no avail, "Bring us about and..."

"Sir! A MASSIVE amount of missiles are launching from the enemy flagship!"

Tarkin stared in awe at the flashes of light before him.

"Point defenses up now!" He barked, turning around fast enough to make a fighter maneuvering in space look trivial.

He stared intently at the incoming onslaught, as if it would make a difference.

"Sir! Nuclear material detected! They've launched nukes at us!"

Tarkin sneered. Nukes hadn't been used in the galaxy since the Mandalorian Wars. Although primitive, Tarkin recognized the threat. At least they wouldn't be as devastating as those particle beam weapons.

"Truly barbaric…" He muttered. "Put all power into the shields and defensive weapons, we mustn't let them hit us!"

The sides of the UNSC dreadnaught seemed to disappear in a sweeping line of flame and smoke before one thousand missiles began screaming at his fleet (if only you could hear in space).

"Holy makers..." Tarkin said, almost as if he was admiring the UNSC's handywork as the missiles closed in at frightening speeds.

The 52 point defense weapons on the Venators then opened up, complemented by the smaller flak guns and lighter laser cannons, all of them giving all that they could give on the missiles heading straight for the fleet.

The Venator's defensive measures were slow and sluggish compared to the Terran designs. The fire control systems were part organic control aided by various instruments, and part computer controlled, but still a hundred thousand times slower than the dumb AI that controlled the UNSC point defenses.

The dark expanses of space were suddenly lit up like a Life Day celebration as thousands of laser bolts and the fiery plumes of incoming missiles filled the sky.

Missiles began to fall by the dozens from laser fire or lucky flak shells, but the sheer speed and number of missiles, coupled with the severe lack of countermeasures and defenses, most of them would hit. A grim reality Tarkin was dealing with.

300 of them had been shot down, including some of the nukes, but there were still hundreds more when they finally hit.

Three of the missiles slammed into the recharging shields of the _Resolute_ , which held, but it was still enough to shake the entire ship, a reminder for the crew to stay on their toes.

Then, one of the nuclear missiles hit his ship.

The entire ship shuddered from the might of the blow, crewmembers were shook and thrown about from their stations, the shields having been completely sucked dry and the outer armor plating melted away to reveal the inner layers of durasteel, Tarkin was lucky, had there been just a little more damage, his ship would've been crippled, or worse, destroyed.

Several of the Acclamators took damage, and one Victory had 200 meters of its bow blown open by three direct hits. A nuke hit an already damaged Venator, piercing through the reactor, causing the whole ship to erupt in a gargantuan fireball, vaporizing the ship and its surrounding escort craft.

A separate Venator was hit diagonally, cutting straight through from where the bridge met the hull, and into the engines, killing it dead in the water.

Tarkin looked frantically at the state of his once proud fleet, now being battered around by primitives.

Those nukes were something never seen before, not even the Mandalorians had fielded something that powerful in their arsenal, all those eons ago.

"More missiles are incoming! The entire fleet is firing! Nuclear signatures detected!" An ensign desperately called out.

Tarkin looked wildly at the sensor screen and felt his jaw drop as the screen stuttered trying to process the mass of munitions coming towards his ships; it turned into two large walls of red icons on his sensor array.

"Cycle the shields! NOW!" Tarkin boomed.

Every weapon the fleet had begun to fire as fast as they could. Even passing star fighters tried to shoot them down, but they kept coming. With their speed, there was not much time to react.

The saturation strike began to rain down on the fleet. The Archer missiles slammed into hulls and shields to detonate their explosive and armor piercing warheads.

It was chaos.

Ships' shields began collapsing from hundreds of hits, only to suffer nearly a hundred more which blew off armor plating, blasted through decks, and turned surfaces of ships into craterous debris fields.

Four more ships went off of the screen. The bow shields of the _Resolute_ took thirty direct hits and collapsed, and the next swarm of missiles screamed in after them, despite the hundreds of laser bolts aimed at them. They were persistent little munitions thanks to the engineers at Misriah Armories.

Dozens of missiles slammed into the Venator at breakneck speed. The armor did its job, for a time. But it could only do so much before it was blown away, and the boundaries of its protection had been broken. The missiles tore into the ship, like a vulture on fresh kill. Deck upon deck began to become exposed to the vacuum of space as one missile glided, gracefully yet also brutally, into the prominent hangar doors, damaging them enough to seal them shut, the mechanism malfunctioning and destroying itself.

Another Terran nuke obliterated an Acclamator, the compromised reactor combined with the explosion made it look like as if God came down from Heaven to create a new star.

Aayla felt tremors through the force, taking the wind out of her momentarily, having to grasp onto an adjacent beam before regaining her composer.

"Hull breaches on decks 11 and 2 in block 3 and 10! Sealing airlocks!" An officer listed off, panic rising in his voice.

Another officer announced "Fires in section 7 through 13! Vent them out!"

Chaos broke out in the bridge; their nerves came to a boiling point. The Terran missiles had been a morale killer. Arguments and panic soon came to the surface.

"You can't vent those sections into vacuum, fire suppression and medical teams are already on station!"

Another Venator cracked under the pressure of the UNSC assault.

Aayla got the attention of Tarkin, "I'm going out there to lead the starfighters. The force is calling me."

Tarkin scoffed at her, but let her through nonetheless. Shaak Ti stayed to advise Tarkin, whether he wanted her to or not.

A MAC round hit square on with an Acclamator, completely stopping it in its tracks relative to the rest of the fleet.

"Those fires are spreading towards the main reactor, if any-"

"Three missiles are incoming directly for the tower section!" An ensign screeched out, quieting the chaos by adding to it.

Tarkin spun around to the window to see the dedicated point defense turrets for the bridge areas firing as fast as they could, immediately knocking two out of the sky.

The remaining missile had been at a vector that was going to bring it straight through a gap in the shield, right before it would recharge.

Tarkin realized what they were heading for.

"It's going to hit the flight ops bridge!" He yelled as the missile blew through the stream of defensive fire.

It was too late for the missile to be stopped.

The UNSC missile hit the flight ops directly, crashing through the windows before detonating (not that Tarkin could see the impact, the missile travelling many times over the speed of sound).

Tarkin was thrown violently to the ground, slamming his back onto a console and then slumping over. Shrapnel had flown away from it, doing damage to the adjacent bridge and other parts of the ship.

Fire engulfed the opposite bridge (which was relatively useless at that moment, considering the main hangar bay was disabled). Debris and gore drifted through space, a body of a clone marine hitting a bridge window before being pushed away.

What most people fail to grasp, is that being hit doesn't necessarily matter in ship to ship combat, but rather, where. The _Resolute_ could afford to be hit in the hangar for example, but a blow to the ammunition/tibanna stores, or the reactor near the core of the ship, would spell disaster for Tarkin. The hit on the Flight Ops Bridge was not a crippling blow, but would severely hamper operation of the ship's fighter complement.

Smoke filled the command deck. Alarms wailed and the fire suppressant systems came online.

Coughing, Tarkin got to his feet. He spat into a cloth he had kept with him.

The flight ops bridge was now nothing more than a blackened, twisted ruin, the top of the flight ops bridge had completely sheared off. Debris began to drift out of the ruin. Burnt and mangled bodies floated out, many missing limbs and large swathes of their torsos. It was a visceral scene; one of the crewmembers aboard the _Resolute_ would receive a Holophoto award for his picture of the devastation.

"Redirect the flight ops for our fighters to the _Executrix_. What is the status of the fleet?" Tarkin sternly asked.

"We lost 34 ships in total, and nearly every ship received damage." The officer choked on the noxious fumes being sucked out by the ventilation system; thank the Force that was still working.

"The enemy fleet is still in engagement distance, but we only have the time to fire five salvos, at best, before they are out of range." Tarkin said, undeterred by the heavy losses the enemy had inflicted.

"Have all ships target at their own discretion, but keep course for the space station and their colony. Thirty ships shall break off and pursue the enemy fleet. We will need to harass the enemy, so that they will stay off our backs during the invasion." Tarkin ordered, the ship shuddering again, this time from one of the smaller railguns mounted on the Terran ships.

 _ **Warhound**_

"That's 34 more confirmed kills. Those missiles and nukes really did a wonder on them. That bought us time, continue full broadsides with Particle Accelerators, railguns, and Onagers until we leave effective range, we need to get them to break their fleet into two. Both elements will enter a slingshot orbit of the Primary gas giant T7, but one will enter at negative 30 degrees and the other at a positive 30 degrees relative to the planet and our current plane. Hopefully we can catch them in a pincer." Admiral White breathed as he informed the remaining fleet over the fleet wide intercom. He wanted to exploit the flaw in the Republic ship design as much as possible. By staying under the Republic ships, he could avoid the punishment of their main guns.

The void was illuminated by combat. Fighters darted from one place to another, the Republic craft being caught between ace pilots and 50mm/70mm point defenses (which had been restricted to Armor Piercing ammunition to avoid friendly fire).

The Republic point defenses were no match for the quick and nimble UNSC combatants. A Longsword bombing run dealt a final crippling blow to a Venator, brilliantly exploding into a million pieces of debris. 5 other ships had fallen to similar attacks.

"Sir! The Republic fleet is firing!" Captain Haithum announced.

The overcharged strikes from the heavy turbo lasers of the enemy fleet pounded the remaining 52 ships with burning intensity, including the _Warhound_ herself as she received the attention of no less than two of the Imperators, a Venator and the enemy flagship itself, which was out for Terran blood.

The ship rocked and groaned as the shields struggled to hold back and absorb the power of hundreds of megatons of firepower thrashing into it. It was a testament to decades of experience in ship design and space combat that the _Warhound_ was still functional.

The particle cannons and other secondary batteries hastily returned fire, bringing the shields on one of the remaining six Imperators down. Two particle beams cut clean through the hull, like a hot pair of scissors cutting through a stick of butter.

The carcass of the ship drifted off, before a tibanna gas store catastrophically exploded.

The shields of the mighty battleship could not hold back all of the turbolaser fire, and several salvos made it through, but thanks to the immensely thick armor the damage was minimal, until one lucky turbo laser blast from the Imperator _Executrix_ found the one of the dual Particle cannon turrets and promptly turned it into slag. A large secondary explosion blew out an adjacent observation deck, killing dozens.

Gregory cursed as he regained his footing. Off in the distance, a destroyer's ammunition rack cooked off under fire which, despite the hundreds of countermeasures and precautions, caused a chain reaction throughout the whole ship, destroying it entirely.

Nevertheless, his flagship was throwing everything it had at the enemy, scoring a clean hit on the engine block of one of the Venators with an Onager salvo coupled with a particle cannon blow, blowing half of the sublight thrusters off. The Venator slewed off of its course, until it eventually was able to recover.

His fleet was not as fortunate as his own ship.

He watched as one of the massive Concordia Carriers from the second group was bisected, followed by a titanic explosion. The culprits of this act being the combined fire of the remaining 4 Imperators, and 3 Victorys.

"We are leaving their effective range now. We lost twelve ships. We're down to half strength, Sir." MacArthur grimly stated.

"More than I expected." Admiral Gregory White had learned not to let losses affect him, to always continue the fight. "Keep course at full burn. Recall the fighters and bombers to regroup for offensive operations. I want 90% of our fighters to punch a hole through the enemy fighter screen so our bombers have a straight shot at their ships, while the rest will maintain a defensive posture."

The UNSC fighters had trounced their Republic counterparts. The Republic fighters had been curbstomped by the point defenses, and their shields were no match for the UNSC fighter weapons, no matter how maneuverable they might be.

The Admiral looked on the display to see his fleet's fighters and bombers, a little battered from the fighting, turn to face a tidal wave of enemy fighters.

The craft locked onto the Republic targets with their long range air-to-air (or space-to-space in this case) missiles.

The Republic fleet was heading straight for SDB5, which began to pound away with its own defenses, and to his ire, five assault ships were setting course to enter Cienna's orbit and land troops.

With 122 enemy ships left, he still was outnumbered over 3 to one, and with the PunicSupercarrier battle group still a day out at best, he had to hold fast, though he was impressed, surprised even, with how his forces had performed.

"Enemy fighters are nearing long range missile range of our fighters." The _Warhound's_ CVW reported. He was leading the starfighters charge, "We will hopefully take them by surprise with our missiles and thin their numbers out before we have to dogfight them. We're concentrating fire on the big ones, the Arc-170s. The V-Wings are as maneuverable as a brick and the Eta-2s are nimble but aren't powerful enough to take us out one on one. We hope Zero-G turns and maneuvers will also give us an advantage as our fighters seem to be better built for that. We have speed, weapons and maneuverability but they have pure numbers. We will do our best sir."

Of course Admiral White already knew that from the intelligence briefing, but the Admiral saluted the pilot nonetheless, "God's speed son."

MacArthur called to Gregory, "Sir, the enemy is launching boarding craft and escort fighters towards the station. Their defenses are holding for now, but they will eventually get through. Our marine combat teams are all green to go. They have multiple defensive positions set up in chokepoints throughout the station."

White shook his head in approval as the intercom buzzed again, and the image of the Mater Chief came on screen, the Spartan II Supersoldier readying his Booster Frame.

"Sir, when do you need me to launch?" The soldier asked plainly.

"I need you to launch once our fighters clear you a path to slip through, though I am sure you could do it on your own, I'd rather be sure. Our slingshot orbit will greatly accelerate you upon exit." he replied.

"Yes sir. I'm ready, just give me the order." Sierra 117 responded.

"Understood, I'll notify you when we're ready. Admiral White, out." The Admiral saluted the Master Chief before closing communications.

Admiral White would have to play the final moments of the battle perfectly if he were to win this. He could not afford to make a single mistake. He needed all the luck in the world. He took this small respite to light up a Sweet William Cigar. Although it was against UNSC regulations, there were no stuck up officials to tell him what to do in the middle of combat.

"Sir! The enemy fleet fell for it! They are sending 30 ships to pursue us!" the radar officer called out giddily.

White gave a devilish grin.

"We'll catch them in a pincer, above and below. They'll be easy picking for our MACs and nukes. Have our point defenses reload their belts and ammo blocks. Keep the other coilgun batteries warmed up and I want our Rapier and Howler missile pods to stay hot. It's a long haul after we get out of our slingshot gentlemen."

 _ **Eta-2 Starfighter**_

"General, we have a sensor lock on the enemy fighters as well as visual from our starfighters." Clone flight leader Red 3 called from the cockpit of his ARC-170.

Aayla raced towards the oncoming UNSC fighters, who were charging headlong at them, faster than her own Interceptor, a humbling experience.

The UNSC fighters were charging at the Republic like the knights of old, gallantly pursuing an enemy for total victory or death.

The force was tingling at Aayla's spine, telling her of an upcoming attack, but they were not in range yet, and after the losses of the fleet, her sense was flooded not only by a growing cloud of the dark side, but from the suffering souls of the dead and dying.

Snapping her concentration back on the mission at hand, she answered Red 3, "Bring them on screen."

Her HUD's screen enlarged to show a menacing, almost pitch black fighter. It had a long pointed beak, two massive engines housed in nacelles on both sides of the fuselage, taking up half of the length of the fighter, two small canards on the leading ends of the engine nacelles, two larger, swept forward wings, and two tailfins that were angled away from each other.

The most prominent features were the lack of a noticeable cockpit, the size of the fighters, and aside from their tremendous speed, the visible weapon hardpoints, loaded with whatever the Terran version of a concussion missile was.

"Looks like the intel was right this time boys, looks like they're using a holosystem to look outside alright." Red 3's wingmate, Red 5 observed. Red Squadron hadn't taken part of the first fighter skirmishes.

"Bout bloody time they got something right." Red 3 added with a hint of distaste.

"Right or not, those fighters really chewed our brothers up like bantha fodder." Red 4 said.

"Cut the chatter, no one needs your talk. Lock S-Foils into attack position people. This is it." Captain Milshin, callsign Red 2, commanded.

"Those things are nearly the size of a Larty. At least we have a nice, fat target." Red 6 added.

Aayla looked into the force for a second, searching for answers and a path to victory, but instead of answers, a horrifying blackening cloud appeared in her mind, growing like a tumor.

 _Was it the dark side?_ She thought in horror, her whole body sinking.

Then a wicked, snarling voice filled her mind.

 _"The Republic as you know it will crumble under the weight of your sins. The trees of time and eternal fate are parched, and war is their aliment. A great darkness from the makers shall arise. The galaxy will be devoured under a Flood of evil and darkness. The Reclaimers will fight, and change the galaxy. The Mantle will be earned. Hearken upon these words, as you are warned."_

She gasped as sweat poured from her blue skin, her heart beat pulsating through her fine fingertips. No amount of calming meditation could have saved her from that… message. Or was it just a trick? A trick her mind played on her?

It was unlike any trance she had ever experienced, she had no idea what to make of it.

Looking into the Force, to her horror, she found only a blank darkness.

The Dark Side had completely consumed everything.

"Incoming missiles! Kriff, they are fast! Evasive maneuvers!" Red 2 screamed into the mic, a thousand missiles screamed from the Terran fighters into the Republic clusters.

Aayla threw her ship into a quick roll, adding to her nausea.

Red 5's ARC-170 wasn't so fortunate or agile as Aayla's Eta-2. Its shields and armor did nothing to keep it from turning into a fiery piece of slag. Just another casualty of this war. Another face to be forgotten by the Republic. Yet, not forgotten by the Jedi. That was their burden, to an extent. Aayla could feel every single one of the dead. Every face, every scream was burned into her consciousness, yet she still fought on.

Aayla muttered to herself, dodging another missile with a lighting quick maneuver, "I've got a bad feeling about this."


End file.
